Poetry Rules

I have been thinking about Virginia Woolf , today. Not only because it is the anniversary of her birthday, or because I have spent the morning rereading excerpts from her A Room Of One's Own , a book that has truly changed the way I perceive writing and, specifically, women and writing. Whenever I think of Virginia though, I am always drawn to the madness and the anguish that she felt on that day of March 1941. I see her wearing an overcoat, filling her pockets with rocks and heading resolutely towards the River Ouse to kill herself. But, the words that come to my mind are those by Frida Kahlo , in a letter explaining why she had painted The Suicide of Dorothy Hale in such a realistic way. " I tried my best to do what I felt ," she wrote. I can't help thinking Virginia's thoughts and very words might have been the same in that time of agony. So true considering her writing and so true considering her nature. I must make this the subject of a new poem. Patti...

I like how art inspires my writing all the time. Yesterday it was  Frida Kahlo 's turn, again. I have always been a fan of etymology and cannot but smile when I think that the word inspiration does indeed have the same root as the words inhale, breathe. This amazing work by Kate D. McDowell  nails down my concept of inspiration! Kate D. McDowell, "Canary 3"

I woke up this morning to the wonderful news that Editor Juliet Cook has selected my chapbook "They Talk About Death" as one of the 3 winners of the 2014 Blood Pudding Press Chapbook Contest. I am particularly grateful, and not just because this is the second chapbook I have got an acceptance for this year, but mostly because I believe that some of my best poems are collected in this chapbook, starting from the one who gives it its title, i.e. a poem dedicated to two of my literary muses Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath .

When writing a biography research is without doubt the key element of one's work. I have always believed that I would not find too much information online. And, I was wrong. I have found amazing information there. Also, I would not be able to stress enough how much the precious information I received from poets and friends of the Poet has helped and is helping me with the current work in progress. This said, I know that what is really giving me a better perspective has been reading Jack's correspondence. Over the past three years I have collected hundreds of his letters and, the more I read them, the more I realize how essential they are to my research. Nothing can give me a better picture of the Poet's life than his own words. I have spent my time lately rereading what the Poet and writers and poets like Djuna Barnes, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, Robert Creeley, David Meltzer and many more wrote one another. It has been so highly entertainin...