Here are a trio of pieces for you to pass along at work today in order to seem quirky, cutting edge, thoughtful… or just like you spend too much time online. Wired’s rundown of The 10 Most Absurd Science Paper Titles… A new Edgar Allen Poe collection by Eric Mongeon… and Geist’s Artist and Writer Fund. Happy forwarding.
They are the forms that break new ground, use unexpected combinations to express either new ideas or long standing ones that benefit from little shocks or big pushes. They can ask big questions. They can offer researched answers. But after looking at them side by side for about a decade I’ve come to a conclusion that their root difference is: new music actively gathers to it an audience whereas poetry seems content being left alone.
“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”
J.D. Salinger
“Essence, inner being, soul, heart’s core,
quiddity (poor thesaurus!)—are they one?
each other’s twin, perhaps?—I doubt it. Heart
and soul? O, surely, one the flesh and one
the ghost of flesh, less heavy but more dense.
And yet their object, their intent, their aim
sprung from that inner being, arrowing
truly towards its target, is become
singular and centred as a flame.
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same.”
P.K. Page Each Mortal Thing / fromThe Walrus
We just had our first modest snowfall in Fredericton. Nothing to write home about… or text home about, depending on your level of technology… but a signpost nonetheless. And since we’re not ones to ignore augury here at Branta it seemed a good time to inaugurate (oops…) the changing seasons with selections from our first volley of unsolicited contributions.
Links are inside this post.
The TD National Reading Summit will engage participants in crafting a blueprint for a reading Canada. Over two days, delegates will hear from an impressive line-up of speakers from across the country and around the world. Ana Maria Machado (Brazil), Ingrid Bon (Netherlands), Elisa Bonilla (Mexico), Richard C. Anderson (USA), Cory Doctorow (UK/Canada), Tom King (Canada), Charles Pascal (Canada), and others will explore what it means to be a reader in a democratic society and share their research and experience in developing reading promotion programs.
As the leaves begin to change and the days shorten there is one additional cryptic sign of seasonal change: The UNB Poetry Weekend. Part celebration of the dance of language, part old home week for the few and the brave (and some say deluded). Introductions, discoveries, reconciliations, affirmations and endurance will be on hand.
Among the 40+ readers this weekend included are:
Click above to see the list.
“These covers can serve as object lessons for what to do and what not to do both with design and editorial.
While some controversial covers have worked and sold more magazines, or won awards for the editors who made the decision to go to press with them, others were embarrassments that the publication had to either apologize for, or fire an editor over.” -Webdesigner Depot.
Epigramaphobia, or: Where the Hell Did the Satire Go? (Part 1)
“I’m not so sure that Americans in general see ‘the poet’ as off-limits to satire. Poetry is, after all, of little concern to the great bulk of the American population—not exactly an issue many people worry about: probably a good thing, in the long view, for them and for poetry both.” -Kent Johnson
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery has won the appeal in a long-standing dispute over 85 works of art in its collection that were being claimed by Lord Beaverbrook’s descendents. In light of this decision, Beaverbook: A Shattered Legacy has become the single most important resource for understanding the characters involved in the now world famous “Art in Dispute.”
