A portrait of poet Rainer Marie Rilke (1875-1926) painted two years after his death by Leonid Pasternak
Ekphrastic poetry is the tantalizing intersection of the art of poetry and the visual arts. HERE‘s an example of one mine that draws on both art and a traditional Chinese Buddhist allegory.
The poem featured below is by Rainer Marie Rilke (1875-1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. I am particularly enamoured of it.
There are many stunning features to Archaic Torso of Apollo. It’s certainly meditative and almost prayerful and yet if it is a prayer it is oddly delivered to a dead and broken god. The poem suggests wholeness even though the statue is fragmented. Perhaps most striking, we are somewhat surprised by the turn the Rilke takes in the end.
You will note also that this poem is not simple physical observation. It recognizes something that is part of our history, our culture and mythology, and yet somehow is not earthbound. It points to the ethical and ineffable.
Archaic Torso of Apollo
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
– Rainer Marie Rilke
The photograph of the Rilke portrait is in the public domain.
WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT
This week pick one of your favorite works of art to write about. Take your time and enjoy the exercise. If you feel comfortable, share your poem or a link to it in the comments section below. All work shared on theme will be published here next Tuesday.
Well, here we are: Tuesday! This brings us to this week’s poetic responses to last week’s Wednesday Writing Prompt, Philosopher’s Stone, September 20. The poems that follow give us an intimate and intense view of our regularly participating poets, either from the perspective of family connection, educational inspiration, or perspectives on art and philosophy. Enjoy!
… and do come out and exercise your poetic imagination tomorrow for the next Wednesday Writing Prompt. All are welcome no matter where in the world you live, no matter your style or your status as a poet: amateur or professional, beginning, emerging or established. These prompts are theme based, not form based. All works shared on theme will be posted in next Tuesday’s collection. You may share your poems – or even prose – or a link to your theme-based work in the comments section below.
how you live in my mind!
genius teacher of boys other than myself
(never in your class) so often floating past me
in your ungainly manner
during those severely wounded years
shortly after the period of reciprocal destruction
known peremptorily as World War Two
you had been caught (I have always imagined)
in a random machine gun volley
down some dark & horrible defile
stinking of blood & death
all in the same old idiot cause
returning after great suffering being pieced together
to Kingston Grammar School to amble disjointedly
along its corridors nick-named perhaps brutally
by previous generations of unkind boys to indicate
that they could hardly understand
a single word of yours whether spoken in fluent
Latin Greek Russian French or German
your command of which survived the wounds
of neck & face as well as arms & legs
and who knows what else now grave secrets
but once I heard you solo speaking loud & clear
in Dvorak’s Cello Concerto playing now
on the gramophone – and it’s not Rostropovich
but Gobbo as it might have been weeping for joy
at his survival in spite of all the suffering
this darkening evening in late autumn
Making up his abode in a distant land
Discerning the blue sea
He pierced beside me
Watery moonbeam playing on his visage
Vehicled abruptly his fervid miraculous fingers
Attiring a necklace of words
A mystic film
A palace of jade
I glowered at him except twinkling of my eyes
Surmising his authentic essence
Of a man a spirit or a god
Relating me his volition
to foozle me in his sea beside his mushy windy casuarina arbors
He left
Hurling his words into the blue bay
But nothing finaled
Albeit I recounter ,counsel
and -grope his lustre
Palping eyes of his verses
Savoring his left pages …
The poet was my father
He read his poems to our family friends
And all were mesmerized by them
How wise, how deep, how entangled but also bold
In a time of dictatorship
The poet was my hero
Till one day when the feeble man crawl from under his own built effigie
Sad day for me
I became deaf to his words
And started writing my own lines
Lines on my own coin
The poet left
Vaporised in some blond vagina
Only then I have found that was his pattern
Sliding slowly from one black hole to the next vortex
Blond haired and with witchy eyes
The poet and me lost track from one another then
I remained with the one instilled by him in the cells of my soul
Later, decades later
The poet have raised again from his pit
He stands besides his trees
The trees that in one of his poems were craving to see a naked woman for they never been in paradise
BAOBAB PRESS, Where good books are grown has an open call for submissions for an anthology of short fiction, This Side of the Divide, in which they plan to feature emerging and established authors exploring the Western United States. Length: 3,000 – 5,000 words. Payment if your story is selected for the anthology: $100 and a copy of the anthology. Deadline: October 31, 2017.Details HERE. This anthology is through a partnership of Baobab Press and University of Nevada, Reno MFA Program in Creative Writing.
Baobab Press also seeks submissions of creative non-fiction manuscripts (125 – 400 pages); novel manuscripts (125 – 400 pages); poetry manuscripts (40 – 100 pages); comics (50 – 100 pages); and short story collections (125-250 pages). Details HERE.
THE ILLANOT REVIEW is still open for submissions to be consider for its next issue. Graphics, poetry, fiction to 4,000 words, flash fiction and creative nonfiction. Deadline September 30. Details HERE.
BAD PONY, a lit mag,an online publication, is open for submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and art. They read on a rolling basis. A fledgling publication, they are reading now for their first and second edition. Submission guidelines HERE.
WORLD ENOUGH WRITERS is open for submissions for its Coffee Poems Anthology to be edited by Lorraine Healy. $5 submission fee for two or more poems. Deadline: February 28, 2018. Details HERE.
THE BIG MUDDY, A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley publishes two-times a year and invites submissions of poetry, fiction, essays, photography and art. Details and submissions HERE.
SMOKELONG QUARTERLY, an online literary magazine devoted to flash fiction accepts work up to 1,000 words. Guidelines HERE.
SMOKELONG FRIDGE-FLASH FOR CHILDREN under twelve years. Stories, art or a combination thereof. Must be submitted by parent with permission to publish. Details HERE.
NATIONAL GIRLS & WOMEN OF COLOR COUNCIL, INC. (NGWCC) calls for submissions for an anthology. Deadline: December 31, 2017. Personal stories, poems, essays and other short stories. Details HERE.
THE BeZINE submissions for the October 2017 issue – themed Music – are open and the deadline is October 10th. Send submissions to me [Jamie] at bardogroup@gmail.com. Publication is October 15th. Poetry, essays, fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos or essays), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. No demographic restrictions and submissions of work relative to your country and its history and culture are welcome. The more diverse the representation, the better. English only or accompanied by translation into English. Please check out a few issues first and the Intro/Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. We do not publish anything that promotes hate or violence. The lead for the October issue is Sheffield poet and musician, John Anstie (My Poetry Library and 42).
Heads-up on the November zine: The theme is Hunger, Poverty and Working-class Slavery. Deadline: November 10.
Note: I will consider previously published work as long as you hold the copyright. / Jamie Dedes
PALAMEDES PUBLISHING has an open call for creative essay for its Finding Light in Unexpected Place (2018), An Anthology of Surprises. Deadline December 1st.Details HERE.
CRANNÓG MAGAZINE has an open call for submissions for its upcoming issue. There’s a November deadline for the February 2018 issue. This magazine publishes poetry under 50 lines, stories up to 2,000 words. “Writers selected to appear in Crannóg will receive: a contributor’s copy and €50 per story, €30 per poem; an invitation to attend/read at the launch of Crannóg at The Crane Bar, Galway, Ireland; three contributors will be nominated for the Forward Prize for best single poem; and six contributors will be nominated for a Pushcart Prize, (poetry and fiction).” Details HERE.
CONTESTS
WILDA HEARNE FLASH FICTION CONTEST 2017 is accepting submissions through October 1st. $15 reading fee. Cash award: $500. Publication in Big Muddy. Details HERE.
MIGHTY RIVER SHORT STORY CONTEST 2017 is accepting submissions through October 1st. Reading fee: $20. Cash award: $1,000. Publication in Big Muddy. Details HERE.
FELLOWSHIP
SMOKELONG QUARTERLY “is accepting submissions for its 2018 Kathy Fish Fellowship for new and emerging writers. The fellowship honors Kathy Fish, a former editor here at SmokeLong, a fantastic writer herself, and a continuing champion of new and emerging writers.
“The winner of the 2018 Kathy Fish Fellowship will be considered a “writer in residence” at SmokeLong (note: position is virtual) for four quarterly issues (March, June, September, and December 2018). Each issue will include one flash by the Fellowship winner.” $5 suggested donation. Details HERE.
EVENTS
The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, online and all are invited to take part no matter the stage of career (emerging or established) or status (amateur or professional) Poems related to the challenge of the week will be published here on the following Tuesday.
Cheltenham Poetry Festival 2018 ~ The theme is power. ‘ A poetry party with a healthy dose of anarchy’ – the Guardian. Details HERE.
Poets on Craft, Remica Bingham-Risher, Tuesday, September 16 from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm EDT at The New School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street, New York, 10011 Admission free. Kid Friendly.
New Orleans Poetry Festival and Small Press Fair April 19, 7 pm CDT “will feature three days and nights of poetry readings and performances, panel discussions, fiction events, a small press fair with books for sale and display, musical acts, slam events, walking tours, open mic at the famous Maple Leaf Bar, and much more…” Details HERE.
Reading Philip Whalen, a belated celebration of his birthday, Monday, October 23 rom 7 pm to 8 pm PST at Moe’s Books, 2475 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704
Paul Madonna: Close Enough for Angels, Wednesday, October from 7 pm – 8 pm PST, Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley CA 84704
Workshop with Diana Goetsch, Saturday, October 21 from 10 am to 4 pm PST, Marin Poetry Center, San Rafael, CA 94901. $100/125/150 sliding scale. Details on this and other Marin Poetry Center events HERE.
CALLING ALL POETS, WRITERS, MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS: We need your most passionate work. The Bezine 100,000 Poets (and other artists and friends) for Change virtual “live”event will run from 12:01 am September 30 to midnight and perhaps longer on The BeZine blog. Details HERE.
Sheffield in Harmony hosted by Hallmark of Harmony (Poet John Anstie’s group), October 7, 2017, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Firth Court. Firth Hall. Sheffield University. “Hallmark of Harmony’s annual production will showcase the considerable barbershop singing talent of our great city. We are proud to share the stage with Sheffield Harmony, who are among the leading female barbershop choruses in the UK. Moreover, this stellar lineup will be complemented by no less than UK champions and World Silver Medallist Mixed quartet, Hannah and the Hurricanes! This is going to be a phenomenal show.” Tickets HERE.
POETRY RESISTANCE WALL
100,000 Poets for Change (100TPC) founders, Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion, have “built” a Resistance Poetry Wall in response to calls from all over the world for a place to post poetry and art in reaction to January’s election here in the U.S.
You do not have to limit your poetry to the situation in the States. You can share work that is relative to your country or your specific concerns. As Michael and Terri state:
“The poetry and art posted on the WALL are not limited to the USA elections. There are many issues that concern us all and we welcome your contribution to this page.”
These efforts do have their place and power. So far 190 people have shared work on The Poetry Resistance Wall. I hope to see you there too. / Jamie
YOUR SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS may be emailed to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Please do so at least a week in advance.
If you would like me to consider reviewing your book, chapbook, magazine or film, here are some general guidelines:
nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
nothing violent or encouraging of violence
English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
though your book or other product doesn’t have to be available through Amazon for review here, it should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.
DISCLAIMER
Often information is just that – information – and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications featured in Sunday Announcements or elsewhere on this site. Awards and contests are often a means to generate income and publicity for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I am homebound due to disability and no longer attend events. Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.
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The translation is by Stephen Mitchell and is the best I’ve read. Find the poem in Mitchell’s translation of The Selected Poetry of Rainer Marie Rilke.
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 