your april annogram

How exciting to be in the Pulitzer Remix sponsored by the Found Poetry Review! The Pulitzer Remix features 85 poets from seven countries who are posting a poem a day in April for National Poetry Month. Each “found” poem comes from a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel assigned to the poet. Mine is Now in November, by Josephine Winslow Johnson, which won the 1935 Pulitzer. Look up your favorites on the site to see great poetry emerge from great prose! If you visit, be sure to leave a comment.

More good news

Thanks to Cindy Hochman for publishing “Bumblebee” in the latest First Literary Review East. Ave Maria Press will also publish “St. Agnes, Pink Slipped” in The Lives We Seek: The Lives We Seek: Contemporary Poems Inspired By the Saints, which includes work by Mary Karr, James Tate and Franz Wright. “Velocity” will appear in Rabbit Ears: TV Poems (Poets Wear Prada), which editor Joel Allegretti talks about in this interview in We Who Are About To Die. And don’t forget my two poems in Journey to Crone, now available from Chuffed Buff Books.

Grand Central: 100 Years Grand

If you’ve read my poem, “Express,” you know I love Grand Central. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, on April 10 at 7 p.m., Billy Collins, Aracelis Girmay, Bob Holman, Marie Howe and Jeffrey Yang will read, with performances by Music Under New York. On April 11 at 12 noon, 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., experts will discuss its history. And May 10-12, the Grand Centennial Parade of Trains will feature the 20th Century Limited and historic displays. All events are free and the first two will take place in Vanderbilt Hall.

More more poetry

You can get on the poetry bandwagon this month by participating in NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month. The site provides daily prompts and a way post your poem a day, if not on your own website or blog. Thanks to Mary Ladd McCray (left) for making me aware of this fabulous online project—you can read Mary’s poems throughout April.

Tugboat Warrior

Congratulations to Ruth Handel (left) on the publication of Tugboat Warrior (Dos Madres Press, 2013). Ruth will read from her new poetry book on April 24, 7:30 p.m., at the Scarsdale Public Library. Read Ruth’s letter to the New York Times to learn the inspiration for book title, and for more, this review.

Kenya’s Song

Award-winning children’s author Linda Trice (right) will discuss and sign her new book, Kenya’s Song, at the Parkchester North Condo Board Room, 1576 Unionport Road (rear basement), in the Bronx, Friday, April 26, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Kenya’s Song, a picture book for children 3-9 years old, celebrates music and diversity. This free event, sponsored by the Parkchester Enhancement Program for Seniors, includes refreshments. Space limited; call 718-409-1619 to reserve a seat.

More National Poetry Month

The Poetry Society of America will host its Annual Awards Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m., at the National Arts Club, with readings by Lizza Rodriguez, Ted Mathys, Elyse Fenton, Carol Light, Nick Twemlow, Naomi Replansky, Martín Espada, and Robert Bly. On Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m, PSA will sponsor John Ashbery in conversation with Deborah Landau at the NYU Global Center, in the Level C Auditorium. Both events are free.



‘Round the Net

Thanks to the following who sent me these links:

• Poet John Amen, when not bathing in the Ganges during Kumbh Mela, is back home reading throughout North Carolina—see his website for April dates

• Romance novelist Diane Gaston for a sneak peek of A Reputation for Notoriety

• Poet Amy King for this article on the VIDA list of publications that fail to fairly publish women writers

• Musician Larry Schwartzman for research into the origins of the Harlem Shake

• Poet Linda Simone for the important reminder that digital can’t always trump paper

• And Linda again for this poem created out of the Periodic Table

Wishing you an inspired April!

Until next time,

Ann