Ms. Lyric's Poetry Outlaws

The last poem I'm reading from the Milosz anthology The Book of Luminous Things and from the section on Non-Attachment. Merwin is often stunning in his evocation of concepts one may not ever have thought of before. Like death anniversaries. Hey it's Friday. And sunny finally. Enjoy!

From the People with People part of the Milosz anthology, recorded on a May day of snow is Olds' piece about her parents and the continuity of generations. It's a bit of a longer one. Enjoy! And yes the snow is long gone in June.

From the Place section in the Milosz anthology, a defamiliarized piece about an American street at night. Moody. Like the sky today.

The Travel section of the Milosz anthology and a piece about the ghosts of the iron horse by Mr Haines. We will leave our homes again soon. Even if it's raining.

The secret of a thing section in the Milosz anthology of luminousness and the much discussed Imagist poem The Red Wheelbarrow by DR WCW. The white chickens are everything. Have a jolly Monday.

It's Friday but I'm still in the nature section of the Milosz anthology. And with Frost crashing through the underbrush. Nature ain't easy.

Which is a Narrow Fellow in the Grass, her amazing poem about a snake encounter from the Milosz anthology of Luminous Things and the Nature section. Hear the cat purr.

A poem from the Nature section of the Milosz anthology where he celebrates luminous things. Here I stutter (over-coffeed?) a bit through a discussion of Kinnell's beautiful extended metaphor about starfish and stars. Sip sip sip.

In which I begin the reading of a selection of 9 short poems from the 1996 Milosz anthology, The Book of Luminous Things. He was a great poet. He has fairly magnificent taste. This first section is called Epiphany and hey who can't resist another Jeffers poem about Inhumanism and beauty. Happy June.

From her 2002 collection Science Fiction Saint comes Nancy Jo Cullen and her 2 page piece Girl Dreams on binaries and the patriarchy and some guy called Dennis. Requested by the amazing Leslie Greentree! I ramble on but end up saying a few worthwhile tidbits here and there. It's the last day of May :)

A delightful final classic from Yeats to conclude the We Animals anthology offerings and the Fantasy section. Do we feel this way these days...an ominous approach? Or is it joyous? Either way, Happy Friday.

The first of two final pieces from the We Animals anthology and from the Fantasy section. I manage to ramble on a lot about Bishop's magical and strange piece. Have a creepy Thursday!

From the Communion section in the We Animals anthology. Stevens...was he a savage spirit? A curmudgeon farmer? Or just a brilliant creator of memorable lines that speak to our connections and divisions within nature.

From We Animals. Another from the Fraternity section. Horses. Apples. A sense of kinship. My cat Solstice appears. It's the beginning of another week.

Get a little Fraternity into your Friday with another poem from the We Animals anthology called Animals by one of my deep and abiding faves, the Californian poet Robinson Jeffers who died in 62. Listen to his inhuman majesties!

Another piece from We Animals by the curmudgeon farmer Robert Frost and his poem about a woman and love and yes Dominion. Is it creepy? It may be! And there are real birds in it!

The second piece from the We Animals anthology and from the section called Dominion. It's the fun serious auralities of John Hollander's Adam's Task. And it actually snowed yesterday. I can't hear any birds. My dominion over the garden has ceased for now.

A new set of poems from the 1989 anthology ed by Nadya Eisenberg called We Animals: Poems of our World. This Berry piece comes from the first section on reverence. A great way to start your day!

Kelly, Edmontonian poet, reads Self Portrait in Fur on my sunny, squirrel and bird frequented patio and we talk a jam packed 40 minutes about environmental poetry, our distaste for certain poetic modes like slam; I mention my loathing for the contrived nature of Mary Oliver and the absurdity of prizes based on relatively bad dead poets. We also talk "career" trajectory in poetry land, chapbooks an...

It's Ms Lyric's 50th episode!! In which I fumble through a chat about syllabics. You see I adore rhythm but am awful with numbers! At any rate a fascinating poem and thanks to the editors of the In Fine Form anthology, second edition! Have a jolly Friday :)

The second to last form from the In Fine Form anthology that also constructs forms and is, in quite a few senses, the essence of a poem, how the line breaks. I'm interrupted by a phone call but mostly keep my train of thought to read Birney's delightful quatrains in his poem about a lost era.

Another form from the In Fine Form anthology, 2nd Ed. The Palindrome is how one feels on Wednesday, as if one's week could be read backwards or forwards. Nice to feature something from Pam who I've known since I was a teen at the Burnaby Writers Society. Relish the discombobulation!

The In Fine Form anthology, Second Ed and the Epigram. Short but packed with meaning! Atwood knows how to sucker punch no doubt. I remember the month today and finish the podcast before my partner arrives, chatting on his phone. Yay birds!

I say it's April but it's May! I also say that the In Fine Form anthology, second and expanded edition came out in 2015 but it was 2016! Apart from that I think I discuss the Blues form with relatively few errors haha and the Hynes poem is a spectacularly modern feminist version of this essential form. It's Monday! Write your own Blues poem :)

A new occasional series in which I aim to offer a few modes of answer to a particular question about poetry. Here I draw on William Carlos Williams famous couplet In a Station of the Metro to discuss the auralities and textures and efforts of a "good" poem. For the highschool teacher Katherine Autio! Who, I hope, is having a Happy Friday.