I spent some time this morning dropping back in on folks I”ve written about in the past thanks to Frank Wilson at BooksInq, who graciously helped put out the word about Carlos Contreras, the New Mexico teacher looking for poems to hand out to his students. The followup on that – Carlos is still looking, and thanks those that have sent poems. He says that subject matter and language are not a concern – “These kids have seen everything,” he told us over at GotPoetry. If you write and still haven”t done it, email Carlos ( soothxsayer@yahoo.com ) a poem of yours along with a short blurb of who you are and what you are about.

What was even neater was that the very next item on Frank”s blog was about Mike Snider, the sonnet blogger, who has prettied up his blog recently and given it a whole new face. Mike writes a new sonnet every week. Being a lover of poetry in form, I had to order his chapbook 44 Sonnets. He responded immediately and graciously and I had the lovely book in my hands within a week. And it is lovely – Snider”s sonnets are refreshingly modern – an example of what you can do with an old form in fresh language. Definitely a keeper.

Quickmuse is now up to 18 poets who have responded to the challenge of writing a poem in 15 minutes based on a piece of writing with which they are presented. New battles take place every two weeks. The next one is coming up on September 20, between Paul Muldoon and Andrew Motion.

You”ve got three weeks left to get in your entries to the Poetry Superhighway 2006 Contest. Remember, entry fee is $1 per poem. The collected entry fees will be shared among the top three poets – 50% to the winner, 30% for second place and 20% for third. The judges for the contest have been chosen, and short bios are on the site. The deadline for receipt of the poem and entry fee is October 7. Last word was over 250 paid entries as of August 26th.

I”m not often one to follow media hype to something slick and commercial. I”m always the last one on the block to read the current bestseller out of sheer stubbornness – and this press release that showed up in my mailbox really nicked at my resistance to commercializing art. Then again – it”s a poem a day project so I had to check it out.

Sonibyte, a producer of digital sound content for the web, launched it”s Poem of the Day podcast in June, and was featured in iTunes “New and Notable” section. To date, there have been over 100,000 downloads of the Poem of the Day. That”s not too shady for a series that features professional actors and academics reading works of literature and poetry. It certainly puts a kick in the teeth to the belief that poetry is dead.

Sonibyte”s Poem of the Day podcast features a new poem every day, downloadable to your iPod or other listening device – including your computer – via RSS or iTunes feed. The service is a free subscription – but the producers are currently offering commercial advertising sponsorships at auction on eBay. Yep, that”s right – they”re auctioning commercial airtime on the Poem A Day podcasts at eBay auction. It”ll be interesting to see what companies think that advertising to poetry lovers is worth, won”t it?

Meanwhile, if you”re interested in getting a new poem downloaded to your iPod each day, you can subscribe to the podcast at this page, or just add this http://www.sonibyte.com/rssfeed/4.xml into your favorite podcasting tool. You can also subscribe to it via .

Like to get a poem a day, but don”t do the pod thing yet? (BTW, stay tuned on that. I -did- attend PodCamp last weekend, and I”m excited about the chance to put some audio/video up here over the next few weeks. I”m just working out all the logistics now.) Drop by All Things Human, where Robert Huntington, an attorney, chess player and self-admitted former (bad) poet, posts a new poem every day. Just a very quick perusal of his latest entries turned up several of my all time favorites – poems that I”d tucked away and forgotten – Leigh Hunt”s Rondeau (better known as “Jenny Kissed Me), Santayana”s Cape Cod. He has a liking for the older British poets – Donne, Marvell, Thomas Hardy – and the poems are well-chosen. Drop by, leave a comment, enjoy.

I am a haiku lover – though I don”t write them well at all. The form is so deceptively simple – syllabic count and all – and so marvelously complex that entire libraries have been written just analyzing the form and how to write it well. Over the years, I”ve been blessed with sharing listserv email writing lists with two wonderful haikuists who have a gift for shaping 17 syllables (or three lines) into art that is as delicate and concrete as origami sculptures. Paul Mena is one of these – I”ll save the other for another post, because she deserves her own – but you can get a taste of her work here – just follow the “next” links all the way to the end.

Paul Mena is a self-acknowledged city boy – a fact that he openly admits makes his “nature poetry” a little more urban-focused than most traditional haiku. I “met” Paul through internet listservs and mailing groups in the early 1990s, and found myself delighted by his daily haiku posted to the lists. He had a gift for capturing those perfect snapshot moments and breathing life into them. Witness:

clinging
to her sundress
the wind

my favorite perfume
the wind
in her hair

outdoor concert:
a lonely pigeon
answers the oboe

In an interview with Simply Haiku, Paul said this about what inspired him to write haiku:

I picked up a copy of Cor van den Heuvel”s “Haiku Anthology” in 1991 in a book store and read about halfway through it before I realized that the proprietors were trying to close for the evening. I had been writing poetry for years, but the brevity and poignancy of haiku – the ability to say so much with so little – spoke to me in a profound way. I was hooked.

Paul blogs almost daily at Extra Special Bitter and haikupoet. The two are nearly identical – with the exception of the lists of links and related blogs.

Want to do something really special this year? How about inspiring a young poet and encouraging them to keep on with their writing? For many adults, poetry was something we memorized in school, often taught by someone who had about as much interest in trophes and iambs and lyrical feet as we did. That sort of teaching made for a healthy dislike of anything bearing the name “poem” – and sadly, colored an entire generation”s idea of what poetry is. What got me thinking about it was a short note at Ewan McIntosh”s blog about the Sandraig Poets blog.

First though, a little background. I am passionate about sharing poetry with kids. From the earliest nursery rhymes to encouraging children and teens to put their feelings and thoughts down on paper, I believe that sharing a love of poetry with a child is one of the most valuable educational experiences you can give. Considering how many of our Poets Laureate – national and at a state level – have developed programs aimed at sharing poetry with schools and other children, I”m not alone in believing that. Ewan”s Edu.Blog is a favorite of mine because he shares his passion for blogging as an educational strategy. I often follow his links to see how others in teaching are using today”s technology to transform learning, so his link to Sandaig Poets was one I had to check out. Sandaig Poets is a page at the blog of the Sandaig Primary School in Glasgow, Scotland.

At the moment, the Poet page features Diamond poems – this year”s first poetry project – by students in one of the classes. The poems are a delight to read, with the creativity and novelty that young poets bring to their work. Even more fun is peeking back at work from the past years, work that has been commented on and in some cases, evolved into collaborations between the students and commenters from other schools, the community and the teachers. If you want to see the future of poetry developing – and even take a hand in encouraging and shaping it, this is your chance. Drop by, read, encourage – you never know what seeds you might be feeding when you do.

Thank you for dropping by! Before you go any further, note that this site has almost nothing to do with beards. Instead you will find abstract and creative poetry and art. Feel free to roam the site and critique the content, with or without profuse verbal exclamations. And keep in mind that none of the content is meant to be offensive unless you converse with sandwiches, etc.

That”s your first introduction to Adopt a Beard, Graham Jensen”s blog devoted to abstract poetry. He updates sporadically – generally several times a month, though his poetic rhythm was interrupted after a recent move to Alberta, and he”s just recently started to get back into the swing of things. Writing as Hamnet, he”s fun to read, quirky and enjoyable – but the centerpiece of Adopt a Beard is the poems. They”re listed in three categories – Nonsense with Occasional Subtle Meaning, Poems That Read Legibly and Poems Submitted by Viewers. In his usual self-deprecating way, Jensen directs attention not the the two categories of his own poetry, but to the third, 157 (and growing) pieces of poetry submitted by his readers. These poems are a literal smorgasboard of styles and voices that are best sampled by dipping your toe in a little at a time before plunging in completely.

Which is not to say that Jensen”s own poetry isn”t fun to read and puzzle through. The “occasional subtle meanings” of his abstract styling tend to sneak up on you when you”re not looking, suddenly blossoming underneath the words you just read as if it had just been awaiting fertile ground to take root.

But I think what I like best about Adopt a Beard is that it is a labor of love. You”ll find no google ads, no banners, no subtle links directing you to this or that product. Jensen is here to share poetry – not just his own, but that of his viewers as well – with you, and it comes through loud and clear in his musings. It”s not a large site – but every bit of it is lovingly crafted, right down to the link banner he offers for sharing the poetry around.

P.S. – Yes, he also posts works of abstract (and other) art submitted by readers and friends. It”s also quirky and delightful!