You probably didn’t notice, ‘cos it’s quite a low-key, marginal, cult-ish affair, but Valentine’s Day took place last week, so there may be one or two allusions to it in this week’s A Week in Words.
If poetry be the food of love, read on.
—————
Poem of the Week:
After Love
Afterward, the compromise.
Bodies resume their boundaries.
These legs, for instance, mine.
Your arms take you back in.
Spoons of our fingers, lips
admit their ownership.
The bedding yawns, a door
blows aimlessly ajar
and overhead, a plane
singsongs coming down.
Nothing is changed, except
there was a moment when
the wolf, the mongering wolf
who stands outside the self
lay lightly down, and slept.
Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer Prize winning US poet.
Featured Image: Grey Wolf via National Geographic
A Darned Good Read:
50 Sexy Books to get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day (no, 50 Shades of Grey did not make the cut)
‘Last Winter’ – A Poem by Sinead Morrissey in The New Statesman
Love: Lost and Found on Craiglist – Illustrations by Sophie Blackall
Letters of Love: Richard Feynman’s Letter to his Wife
Armistead Maupin on how he wrote Tales of the City – The Guardian
‘A Hummingbird, Your Heart’ Chapbook by Doireann Ni Ghroifa – beautiful collection of poems.
Tiny Beautiful Things – Dear Sugar Advice Column (The Rumpus) – the best advice you never had.
Submissions & Competitions:
Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Competition – Judge: Alice Ostriker, Prize: $1000, Deadline – 19th Feb
Sentinel Literary Quarterly – Poetry Competition – Judge: Bob Beagrie, Prize: £200, Deadline – 20th Feb
Listowel Writers’ Week – Literary Competitions – various awards for fiction, poetry, memoir and more – Deadline: Mar 1
Advice for Poets & Writers:
How to Speak Poetry: Billy Ramsell Poem & Interview – The Ash Sessions
Can Bad Writing be Good for Writers?
Upcoming Literary Events in Ireland:
Lingo Spoken Word Festival – new literary event taking place in Dublin – Oct 2014
List of Regular Music & Poetry Events in Dublin – compiled by The Monday Echo
Dublin Writers Forum – Every Thursday at The Workman’s Club, Dublin – 7.30pm
Quote of the Week: Susan Sontag
“To be an artist or a writer is to be this weird thing — a hand worker in an era of mass production”
(via)
a dreaming skin 