Marianne Murphy Zarzana
  • Home
  • Writing in This Moment: Blog
  • Poets & Writers I Read
  • Poem Gallery

Noticing the Costumes We Wear Every Day

6/6/2011

0 Comments

 

During the summer, I may not  be posting every day as I have been because Jim and I will be on the road visiting family, busy with outdoor activities--gardening, biking, and tennis--and focused on creative writing projects. Summer is a short season in Minnesota, and we always make the most of it.

This poem below gives me an idea for a prompt I could use in my creative writing classes and my Wild Women Writing group: write a poem describing the "uniform" or costume of some particular group of people (Japanese businessmen, Minnesota ice fisher folk, runners, Harley-Davidson riders, etc.) so that readers have a vivid picture of this subculture.


American Life in Poetry: Column 324

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Here’s a fine poem by my fellow Nebraskan, Barbara Schmitz, who here offers us a picture of people we’ve all observed but haven’t thought to write about.

Uniforms

It is very hot—92 today—to be wearing

a stocking cap, but the adolescent swaggering
through the grocery store automatic door
doesn’t seem to mind; does not even appear
to be perspiring. The tugged-down hat
is part of his carefully orchestrated outfit:
bagging pants, screaming t-shirt, high-topped
shoes. The young woman who yells to her friends
from an open pickup window is attired
for summer season in strapless stretch
tube top, slipping down toward bountiful
cleavage valley. She tugs it up in front
as she races toward the two who have
just passed a cigarette between them
like a baton on a relay team. Her white
chest gleams like burnished treasure
as they giggle loudly there in the corner
and I glance down to see what costume
I have selected to present myself to
the world today. I smile; it’s my sky blue
shirt with large deliberately faded Peace sign,
smack dab in the middle, plus grey suede
Birkenstocks—a message that “I lived through
the sixties and am so proud.” None of the
young look my way. I round the corner and
walk into Evening descending.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Barbara Schmitz, whose most recent book of poems is How Much Our Dancing Has Improved, Backwaters Press, 2005. Poem reprinted from the South Dakota Review, Vol. 47, no. 3, 2009, by permission of Barbara Schmitz and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2011 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

0 Comments

"Poetry in a Modern World"

6/4/2011

0 Comments

 
On his facebook page today, writer Dana Yost shared an interesting story from the Star Tribune, "Poetry in a Modern World," about three Minnesota poets and how they use media to enhance their work and reach new audiences. 

The three featured poets are: Connie Wanek, one of my favorites (I'm reading her new book of poems On Speaking Terms), Todd Boss (I just bought a copy of his book of poems Yellowrocket to read this summer), and Ryan Vine, a poet who I am not yet familiar with but look forward to reading his work.

Read the article and check out some of the "motionpoems," a new genre. Billy Collins also has some great animated poems that you can find on YouTube. 

So many ways to use different media to get people "hooked" into reading poetry. I like Todd's quote in the Trib article about why he has become involved in creating animated video for poems: "Poets have so little exposure for their work, and that's why they write: for an audience of listeners," said Boss. "We see film as a gateway drug for poetry."
0 Comments

Gettin' Techy with It: A New Resource for Your Online Writing

6/2/2011

0 Comments

 
Today one of my colleagues emailed me the Writing Spaces Web Writing Style Guide 1.0 which is available for use at http://writingspaces.org/wwsg/title.

This writing sprint, begun on April 22, 2011 was part of Collaborvention 2011: The Computers and Writing Unconference (see http://computersandwriting.org/collaborvention-2011-home).

This is a resource for students, professionals, basically anyone interested in improving their online writing.

In addition to the HTML version currently available, over the next couple of weeks, Writing Spaces will release print-friendly PDF and EPUB versions of the text for use with ebook readers for iOS and Android devices.

Like other Writing Spaces projects, Writing Spaces Web Writing Style Guide is licensed under a Creative Commons license, so you're free to use it in your classes if you're a teacher. If that's the case, the creators of the Style Guide would love to hear about your plans for using it with students.

I read one of the essays in the guide titled "Why Blog? Searching for Writing on the Web" by Alex Reid. Here's an excerpt: "This essay is addressed to the composition student interested in pursuing blogging. It provides some history and technical background on the weblog. It discusses rhetorical strategies for getting started and finding success as a blogger. Finally, it offers some tips for designing your blog site and connecting your blog with the other social media applications you use." 

If you've been playing around with the idea of starting a blog focused on one of your interests (art, music, knitting, yoga, dogs or cats, politics, permaculture, computers and technology, global climate change, entertainment, popular culture, comedy, video gaming, on and on), this short essay might be a good launching pad for you. It includes a list of the top 25 blogs as of June 2010. As the saying goes, jump in--the water's fine!
0 Comments

A New Blog on the Block

6/1/2011

0 Comments

 
Check out an interesting review of a top box office movie at the Marshall Independent blog forum.
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Author

    I love to play with words. To capture moments on the page. To explore the physical and spiritual geography of what I call "fly-over country." I write from imagination, observation and my own experience of wandering in fly-over country--the literal, physical spaces of my life on the Minnesota prairie and the inner territory of the soul. 

    I teach writing at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. I enjoy cooking and traveling with my husband Jim, reading, practicing yoga, playing tennis, biking, hiking and gardening.

    Archives

    December 2019
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2016
    July 2016
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    Blogroll
    Arts Beat
    A Year of Being Here
    Bearded Vegan
    Becky's Blog
    Better World Books
    Birth Breasts and Beyond
    Carrie Etter
    Christine Stewart-Nunez
    Dana Yost
    Heroic Yes! Productions
    James A. Zarzana
    Landing on Cloudy Water
    Nicole Helget
    No Ideas But in Things
    Story Guru
    The Marsco Saga
    Write Right

    Categories

    All
    African American Writers
    African-American Writers
    American Life In Poetry
    Awp
    Dance
    Family
    Favorite Poems
    Favorite Writing Blogs
    Global Studies
    Good Articles
    Good Articles About Writing
    Good Blogs
    Good Books
    Good Essays
    Good Movies
    Good Plays
    Good Poems
    Good Quotes
    Good Video Clips
    Guerilla Art
    International News
    International Writers
    Irish Writers
    James A. Zarzana
    Libraries
    Literary Awards
    Literary Journals
    Mankato
    Memoir
    Mindfulness
    Minneapolis
    Minnesota Public Radio
    Minnesota State University-Mankato
    Mnsu
    Msu
    National Public Radio
    Nd
    Notre Dame
    Poetry Foundation
    Public Art Projects
    Publishing Resources
    Readings
    Shameless Plug
    Shameless Plugs
    Smsu
    Storytelling
    Ted Kooser
    Websites
    Writer
    Writer's Almanac
    Writers I Read
    Writing About Family
    Writing About Food
    Writing About Music
    Writing About Words
    Writing And Community
    Writing And Faith
    Writing And Politics
    Writing And Romance
    Writing And Sexuality
    Writing And Sports
    Writing And Teaching
    Writing And Technology
    Writing Contest
    Writing Groups
    Writing Prompts
    Writing Workshops
    Yoga
    Young Readers
    Young Writers

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.