April 13 Poem: American Idyl (clemency, please)

On April, 2010 By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn Observations uncategorized6 Comments

Today’s device from The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices, by William Packard, is

Idyl [not to be confused with Idyll … or idle … or Idol, for that matter]: Any pastoral poem, rustic and bucolic, such as an ECLOGUE. From the Greek, meaning “little picture,” an idyl is usually a short poem showing the joys of rural nature.

Well, Packard lost me when I read the words “short poem.” I don’t tend to write many of those. I will offer today a poem from my chapbook, String Quilt, as an idyl. An earlier version of this poem was originally published in Crucible. Thanks, as always, for reading! Continue reading “April 13 Poem: American Idyl (clemency, please)” →

April 5: Three for Thursday on Monday (and other symptoms of insanity)

On April, 2010April, 2010 By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn My Poetry, Observations uncategorized, Poetry, Reading, Your Poetry3 Comments

Today’s poetic device, as defined by William Packard in his book, The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices, is

Dramatic Poetry: Poetry that involves two or more notes or TONES or VOICES, as opposed to lyric poetry which involves a single note or tone or voice. Dramatic poetry is not often represented in standard anthologies for English or American poetry because most dramatic verse is written for the theater.

I wrote a poem several years ago that I have entitled many things, but the final version ended up with the title, “Interrupted Monologues.” I wrote this poem to be read through twice. The first time, Part I is to be read first, then Part II. The second time through, the lines are to be read straight across the page, as if the voices are interrupting each other, or finishing each others’ sentences. Because it is written in columns, I cannot post it here in its true form, so I am providing a link herein, so that you can see the poem on the page. You can hear the poem read (along with a poem written by Anthony Abbott, and a poem written by Gary Metheny) in the video below.

Here is the link for the poem itself: Interrupted Monologues

Thanks for viewing and reading.

No “Three Poems for Thursday,” So How About “Fiction Friday?”

On February, 2010 By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn Observations uncategorized2 Comments

Is it weird that I can figure out how to post video and use a webcam, but I can’t figure out how to turn off the ringer on my phone? Anyway, this is me reading the prologue of the historical novel on which I am currently working.

I first started doing the research for this novel about ten years ago. I know that sounds like a long time, but I let my curiosity take me wherever it would. In the meantime, I got busy actually writing other things. After a few false starts a couple of years apart, finally within the last year I streamlined my research and began the writing of the novel in earnest.

Feedback is very welcome and appreciated. Sharing my draft fiction is a bit scarier for me than sharing my draft poetry, but here goes.

A Little Friday Funnin’

On January, 2010 By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn Observations uncategorized5 Comments

(wherein I explain why I didn’t read Three Poems for Thursday yesterday, and give you some information about snow cream. In the first clip, we begin by knowing that if you have no electricity/power, you won’t be able to cook on an electric stove; and, if your power is out for a long time, the stuff in your fridge is going to spoil … In the second clip, I actually read some poems.)

Three Poems for Thursday

On January, 2010January, 2010 By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn Observations uncategorized2 Comments

Welcome to a mini-reading! In the first frame, I read Dannye Romine Powell’s poem “Everyone is Afraid of Something” from her wonderful book, A Necklace of Bees (that title comes from a line in this poem); and, I read Jennifer K. Sweeney’s poem “Nocturne” from her beautiful new book, How To Live On Bread and Music. In the second frame, I read my poem, “Making Peace,” which was an Honorable Mention in The Writers’ Workshop 2003 Poetry Contest. Hope you enjoy these vids – I suspect they will get “rowdier” once I am comfortable with the technology (look out!).