Author Unknown
Newsletter of the SBU local chapter of Missouri State Poetry Society – No. 3
For other issues click 1, 2.


THE FALL 2004 EDITION OF AUTHOR UNKNOWN

 

With another fall semester up and running, the SBU campus poets meet weekly to read their latest poems. By joining the local chapter Author Unknown, the poets are automatically members of the Missouri State Poetry Society and the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.  Sponsors for the group are Mark Tappmeyer, Carla Kirchner, and Todd Sukany.  Members, left to right, are as follows: Row 1: Michelle Felder, Darci Hobbs,  Nancy Simmerman, and Shea Vailes; Row 2: Todd Sukany, Carla Kirchner, Laura Dixon, Mandy Benso, Jennifer Harris, Ashley English, Chance Vahle, and Donnie Boenker.

 

READING AND WRITING POETRY

Probably you have heard many times that if you want to be a poet, you should read poetry.  And probably you have heard many times that if you want to read a poem, there are guidelines that will help you understand what the poet did in his or her poem.  The rules that you should follow to read a poem will help you write a poem.  Here are some questions that evoke commonly accepted guidelines for readers (and also writers) of poetry:

1. Who is the speaker?  Try writing poems from various points of view.  Create a personality for your narrator, meditator, or commentator.

2. Is the speaker addressing a particular person?  Create a drama of speaker and listener or listeners.

3. Does the poem have a setting?  Create a place for the conversation to take place if it is significant.

4. Is the theme stated directly or indirectly?  Today we usually let the reader figure out the theme rather than preaching the poem's meaning.  Therefore, we say we prefer indirect presentations.

5. Is the poem enriched with figurative language?  Try a metaphor or simile to make the poem's descriptions reverberate.

6. Does the structure of the poem support the meaning?  If you use rhyme and meter, make them add to the poem.
     
 
     
      ALLONS
      Darci Hobbs
 
      Sultry air still waits--allons!
      Sunday morning sun raise
      Bruler!
      Spices boil filmy panes
      Come in, pass a good time
      Laissez les bon temps rouler!

 

  

                IS SPELLING REALLY IMPORTANT?

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid!  Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrodas a wlohe. Amzanig huh? And I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!

But, yes, spelling is important, as is punctuation and grammar.  Poems entered as contest entries usually are marked down if basics like these are ignored.  Take time to proofread carefully.  Typos are everyone's problem, but they should not be casually dismissed.

 
           
DAVID CLEWELL TO READ FROM HIS POETRY ON THE LITERARY ARTISTS SERIES, SEPTEMBER 23.

David Clewell, artist-in-residence at Webster University in St. Louis, will read from his prize-winning poetry, Thursday evening, September 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Jester Center theatre.  Each year the Barnett-Padgett Literary Artists Series brings to campus a speaker of note.  Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the U.S., said of Clewell: "David Clewell is an exuberant, inexhaustible poet and an insider on such diverse America arcana as forgotten Hollywood actors, flying saucers, CIA shenanigans, comic books, cereal favors, beatnik kitsch, and jazz."  Following the 6:30 reading, he will meet upstairs in an English department classroom with local poets.  There is no admission fee for either session.  Two of Clewell's books, Now We're Getting Somewhere and The Low End of Higher Things, will be available for purchase at the reading.

Clewell will also read at the Missouri State Poetry Society state convention in St. Peters at the Community Arts Center on Friday evening, September 24 at 7:00 p.m.  Members of Author Unknown are invited to attend the state convention, Friday evening through Saturday afternoon.  Details are given here.