13 Ways to Support Poetry – guest blog post by Dick Allen

August 12, 2018 / Erica Goss, Poet / Leave a comment

Thanks to Trish Hopkinson and Dick Allen for this wonderful list! I especially like 2, 3, 4, 12, and 13.

Great guest blog post rewind up today from Dick Allen… the 13 ways to support poetry below include what to ask your local library, how to support the poetry community, and quotes from others in the lit mag industry.

“It is difficult to get the news from poems yet [humans] die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.”—William Carlos Williams

1. Ask your local public libraries and college and university libraries and even perhaps public school libraries to regularly order and display books of contemporary poetry. A first guideline to encourage them might be to ask these libraries to make sure they have available the current year’s Pulitzer Prize winning book of poems, and probably the current year’s National Book Award book of poems, the current year’s National Book Critics Circle Award book of poems, the current year’s Poets Prize book of poems, the current National…

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Field Notes

June 12, 2018 / Erica Goss, Poet / 2 Comments

During much of this spring, I’ve been in a creative lull – not exactly writer’s block but a definite slowdown. I wrote a few poems, I kept up with my twice-a-month blog posts and the newsletter, I wrote daily entries in my journal, but the energy I normally bring to my creative writing felt muted. … Continue reading Field Notes

Flowers of Rhetoric: A List of Obscure Literary Terms

May 29, 2018 / Erica Goss, Poet / 1 Comment

I found this list in a 2003 letter from my father. At the time, I was beginning my MFA degree in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. My father was worried that I would succumb to the "tricks of rhetoric, which are the opposite of poetry." In the same letter, he went on to … Continue reading Flowers of Rhetoric: A List of Obscure Literary Terms

The Exploratory Review

May 16, 2018 / Erica Goss, Poet / 1 Comment

I’ve come to realize something about the reviewing process. Every book I review is unique, and therefore, dictates the type of review it receives. I call this style of reviewing The Exploratory Review, which combines elements of narrative, description, and exposition. In the exploratory review, the book leads the way instead of the reviewer. A … Continue reading The Exploratory Review

Navigating Lit Mags: Why and Where to Publish – guest blog post by Bernard Grant

February 6, 2018 / Erica Goss, Poet / Leave a comment

This is a very useful follow-up to my post of 1/24/18 on researching journals, submitting one’s work, rejection, and becoming a better writer.

Trish Hopkinson

Navigating the world of literary magazines was difficult for me in the beginning. I initially set out to publish anywhere, so desperate for publication, I actually Googled easiest literary magazines to the publish in, or something to that extent, and came across visual and literary artist’s Michael Alexander Chaney’s “Top Lit Mags that REALLY do Publish Emerging Authors.” Some of the magazines on his list include Baltimore Review, Bayou Magazine, New England Review, River Teeth. For each one, Chaney includes short anecdotes, quotations, and descriptions—proof essentially—that these top-tier lit mags have, indeed, published emerging writers, and have given some writers their first publications.

Despite, and maybe because of that article, I became more aware of the level of prestige each journal carried, and after a few rejections from them, I decided to aim low, believing I had no chance with those big journals and, even worse, that I…

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FREE Poetry email newsletter + interview with Erica Goss

December 27, 2017 / Erica Goss, Poet / 1 Comment

The first issue of Sticks & Stones, my bi-monthly newsletter, will be delivered to subscribers on Monday, January 1, 2018. Issue 1 features a review of Jenene Ravesloot’s poetry collection, titled Sliders, a random poem from the bookshelf, notes from the reading life, and a pithy quote or two. To subscribe, send me an email at ericagoss@comcast.net with the subject “Newsletter.”

Trish Hopkinson

Erica Goss recently told me about a new poetry email newsletter she’s starting for 2018, so of course, I needed to know more! See my interview with Goss along with how to sign up for the newsletter below.

Erica Goss served as Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, CA from 2013-2016. She is the author of Night Court, winner of the 2016 Lyrebird Award, Wild Place and Vibrant Words: Ideas and Inspirations for Poets. Recent work appears in Lake Effect, Atticus Review, Contrary, Convergence, Eclectica, The Red Wheelbarrow, and Main Street Rag, among others. She is co-founder of Media Poetry Studio, a poetry-and-film camp for teen girls: www.mediapoetrystudio.com. Please visit her at www.ericagoss.com.

HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about why you decided to start a poetry email newsletter?

GOSS: During one of my long drives between Oregon and California this fall, I had an epiphany: besides word-of-mouth…

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Erica Goss

Poet, Writer, Instructor

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