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

Southwest Minnesota State University Visiting Writers Series - Save These Dates

1/27/2011

0 Comments

 
This semester at SMSU we're welcoming three outstanding writers to read from their new books during our Visiting Writers Series:

Thurs., March 3, 7 p.m., CH 201 - poet Christine Stewart-Nunez, Keeping Them Alive
Tues., March 15, 7 p.m., Whipple Gallery - poet Jim Reese, Ghost on Third
Wed., April 6, 7 p.m., CH 201 - poet and former award-winning editor of the Marshall

                                                      Independent Dana Yost, The Right Place (poems and essays)

Save these dates on your calendar. Tell everyone you know. And get ready for writing that delivers--more than you ever bargained for, just what you needed.

All readings are free and open to the public. After the readings, writers will be available for book signings.
0 Comments

What is the Soundtrack of Your Writing Life?

1/25/2011

0 Comments

 
Want to get in touch with your inner child to stir up the creative juices a bit? Try listening to Wonderground Radio on Minnesota Public Radio. Billed as "non-commercial radio for kids to listen to with their grown-ups," there's everything from classics--Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," Pete Seeger's "On Top of Old Smoky," Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are Made for Walking," and Sly & the Family Stone, "Everyday People"--to newer hits such as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," Michael Franti & Spearhead's "Say Hey (I Love You)," Sufjan Stevens' "The Friendly Beasts," and OK Go's "White Knuckles." 

When I write, I like either silence or instrumental music, no lyrics. But for some writing-related tasks--sorting, cleaning up desk clutter, filing--it's great to have music with good energy, music that jogs memories, loosens you up, takes you places. Check this out, and see what you think.
0 Comments

Poetry and Place

1/20/2011

0 Comments

 
The Poetry Foundation recently sent out a letter noting that "Ruth Lilly's historic gift made it possible to think of a dedicated building that would be a place for poetry in Chicago, and an addition to the national landscape for poetry." They included an architect's rendering of the new building that "will give to Chicago a place of airy lightness by day and a jewel box, lit from within, by night" (visit poetryfoundation.org/building to see a slide show). The website notes, "Like several other dedicated poetry spaces around the country, the Poetry Foundation building will be a physical manifestation of the nationwide resurgence of poetry in American culture."

The letter adds that "the building will also be a coming home for Poetry." Having perched in rented or donated space since the magazine's founding by Harriet Monroe in 1912, "Poetry will settle into the first ever home of its own just in time to celebrate its centenary." In expressing "the weight of feeling that this carries for us all," the Poetry Foundation Board chairman Don Marshall quoted a poem by Adrienne Rich:  

Stone by stone I pile
this cairn of my intention
with the noon's weight on my back,
exposed and vulnerable
across the slanting fields
which I love but cannot save
from floods that are to come;
can only fasten down
with this work of my hands,
these painfully assembled
stones, in the shape of nothing
that has ever existed before.
A pile of stones: an assertion
that this piece of country matters
for large and simple reasons.
A mark of resistance, a sign.
     -"A Mark of Resistance," from Poetry, August 1957

Chicago is one of my favorite cities. Having grown up in the suburbs, I loved going to the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Planetarium, and Grant Park for concerts such as the Chicago Blues Festival. This coming summer the doors will open to this new home for poetry, and I look forward to having one more reason to head back from Minnesota to Chicago for a visit.
0 Comments

Finding the 'right place'

1/16/2011

0 Comments

 
An article about Dana Yost's new book was published yesterday in the Marshall Independent--"Finding the 'right place.'" 

The book, The Right Place, a combination of essays and poetry by the former editor and award-winning journalist of the Marshall Independent, "shows how life is never easy in the Midwest," according to Yost, but "there are people committed to the area." He writes eloquently about these people, and he exhorts "other residents--writers, local government leaders, business leaders, anyone with deep roots in the region--to keep thinking critically and passionately about its future." 


In these beautifully wrought essays and poems, Yost writes about universals--death, war, faith, illness and grief--and how people deal with them in a specific place. Yost may have moved to Forest City, Iowa, but his heart clearly remains in southwest Minnesota.
0 Comments

Words That Shimmer

1/15/2011

0 Comments

 
The National Public Radio show "Krista Tippett on Being" broadcast a segment on Jan. 6, 2011 titled "Words That Shimmer" and posted these words on their website: 

"Poetry is something many of us seem to be hungry for these days. We're hungry for fresh ways to tell hard truths and redemptive stories, for language that would elevate and embolden rather than demean and alienate. Elizabeth Alexander shares her sense of what poetry works in us — and in our children — and why it may become more relevant, not less so, in hard and complicated times." 

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet and professor of African American Studies at Yale University. She composed and delivered her poem "Praise Song for the day" for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Her most recent book is Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems, 1990-2010. 

Alexander was delightful when she appeared on The Stephen Colbert Show the day after the inauguration and explained the difference between a metaphor and a lie.
0 Comments

On Speaking Terms

1/7/2011

0 Comments

 
Recently I started reading a new book of poems, On Speaking Terms, by Connie Wanek, one of my favorite poets. I like how Maxine Kumin describes Wanek's work: "Her carefully crafted poems have a delicious artlessness about them, even as they take us in and lift our neck hairs with the unexpected aptness of her metaphors." 

Connie takes common objects--Scrabble, Monopoly, lipstick--and creates uncommon, fresh images. She lives in Duluth, and she explores the landscapes and severe winters of the upper Midwest along with signs of spring's return. In her poem "Ice Out," she writes, "The south wind discovers a loose thread / and winter begins to unravel. / The first back and blue butterfly / materializes. The second. / They find each other. / The snow fort is in ruins. / Stacks of ammunition / have melted into the grass."

If you haven't already read Connie Wanek's work, I encourage you to find her poems and books.
0 Comments

Poem of the Day on Poetry Daily: "Deer, December" by Richard Terrill

12/27/2010

0 Comments

 
Today's Poem of the Day on the online website, Poetry Daily, is "Deer, December" by Richard Terrill, one of my graduate professors at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I love the vivid nature images in this poem and the surprising truth of the last line. The poem is from his new book, Almost Dark, published by University of Tampa Press. Terrill gave a wonderful reading from his book in October at Marshall Festival 2010, a writing conference hosted by Southwest Minnesota State University. 

Terrill's other books include Coming Late to Rachmaninoff (Winner, Minnesota Book Award for Poetry, 2003), Fakebook: Improvisations on a Journey Back to Jazz, and Saturday Night in Baoding: A China Memoir (Winner, Associated Writing Programs Award for Nonfiction). Terrill is a terrific writer and an outstanding teacher, and I've learned much from him in the classroom and from reading his work.
0 Comments

Relax

12/22/2010

0 Comments

 
Today a writer friend, Christine Stewart-Nunez, author of the poetry book Postcard on Parchment, gave me the poem "Relax" by Ellen Bass, published in the American Poetry Review in September/October. It can be read on Poetry Daily online (just click on the poem title). Do you find that some poems arrive at just the right time? This one made it onto the most prestigious location in our home--the fridge door.
0 Comments

Dana Yost's latest book, The Right Place

12/18/2010

0 Comments

 
Former Marshall Independent editor and award-winning journalism Dana Yost, who grew up in Minneota and lived in Cottonwood, has written a new book, The Right Place, available in Marshall, Minneota, Cottonwood, and online. The book focuses on people and places in southwest Minnesota. It is a combination of 12 essays and 10  new poems. The essays include new pieces on the late Minneota Mayor Paul Larson, the 30th anniversary of the Minnesota Machinery Museum in Hanley Falls, stories on local authors Bill Holm, Adrian Louis and Howard Mohr. Currently, The Right Place is available at MAFAC Arts Center, 109 N. 3rd ST. in Marshall, The Minneota Mascot, the Village Court in Cottonwood, and by emailing indyed2003@yahoo.com. After Jan. 1, it will also be available online at www.ellispress.com. The book costs $12. If ordering by mail, there is s $5 shipping fee. The Right Place is published by Ellis Press of Granite Falls.

As soon as I finish grading papers for this semester, I'm looking forward to reading my copy of Dana's new book. I am a long-time fan of Dana's prose and poetry, and I am giving his book to many friends this Christmas.
0 Comments

Writing Your Next Chapter?

12/14/2010

0 Comments

 
In the public relations courses I teach at SMSU, I start each class by asking my students if they have any Shameless Plugs for upcoming events on campus. Today I have a Shameless Plug for Nancy Murphy Spicer, who operates Zoom Business and Life Coaching. If you take a brief survey on her web site, you can receive a free 30-minute life coaching sample session. Read her web site, see what her clients say, and think about where you want to go next with your writing, publishing, personal or professional life. As a life coach, Nancy understands the artist's path from firsthand experience as an artist. If you're ready to write your next chapter but need some coaching, you may be ready for Zoom.
0 Comments
Forward>>

    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.