Poetry New Zealand (international journal of poetry and poetics)

Poetry New Zealand, published twice a year and edited since 1993 by Alistair Paterson,  is new Zealand’s oldest and most distinguished poetry magazine.  Excerpts from the current issues and archive of older issues going back to Issue 22 are available in this online version of the magazine.

Each online version of a Poetry New Zealand issue generally includes a short essay (editorial) and 2 or 3 high quality poems, by well-known and lesser known poets with some of the contributors outside of New Zealand.  Subscriptions to the print version are available for purchase online.

dVerse — Poet’s Pub

Dverse is promotes poetic diversity by providing a gathering place for poets of all backgrounds, styles and approaches to gather, share poetry and give and receive critiques.

This is an amazing site and well worth taking time to explore older posts in all of the following categories:

• FormForAll Articles that introduce and explain a given form of poetry, such as the sestina.  Guests are encouraged to create a poem for that form and then link to their composition.
• Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft  Alternates weekly with  FormForAll providing specific challenges to guests.
• OpenLinkNight  (Guests can link to any of their poems and browse other poet’s links.)
• Poetics  (This is one of the most interesting places to visit.  Guests write about a provided poetry prompt and link to their completed poems.)
• Pretzels & Bullfights Weekly posts of significant poems of important poets.

If one is serious about developing the poetry skills, this is a must site to visit.  Join the other regulars, meet new friends and develop your poetry skills!

Lithuanian Poetry (Translated into English)

Lithuania has a rich history of poetry, literature and folk songs.   This Lithuanian Poetry Site provides English Translations  of several generation of both celebrated Lithuanian poets and lesser known artists.

Besides the wonderful, diverse and often awe-inspiring poems, one can read an informative essay by Kornelijus Platelison on Modern Lithuanian Poetry.
Check out poets like Jurgis Baltrušaitis (1873–1944), the first Lithuanian symbolist or the more t raditional Antanas Strazdas (1760–1833).

List of Poets currently on this Lithuanian Poetry Site:

Neringa Abrutytė
Jonas Aistis
Eugenijus Ališanka
Arnas Ališauskas
Leonardas Andriekus
Vyt Bakaitis
Alis Balbierius
Onė Baliukonytė
Algimantas Baltakis
Jurgis Baltrušaitis
Antanas Baranauskas
Albinas Bernotas
Kazys Binkis
Jurgis Blekaitis
Vytautas Bložė
Vitalija Bogutaitė
Kazys Boruta
Kazys Bradūnas
Bernardas Brazdžionis
Vladas Braziūnas
Alfonsas Bukontas
Marius Burokas
Gražina Cieškaitė
Daiva Čepauskaitė
Valdas Daškevičius
Janina Degutytė
Kristijonas Donelaitis
Antanas Drilinga
Sigitas Geda
Liudas Gira
Gintaras Grajauskas
Kotryna Grigaitytė
Almis Grybauskas
Mary Gurekas
Kazys Inčiūra
Liudvikas Jakimavičius
Doris Jankus-Duke
Benediktas Janušauskas
Demie Jonaitis
Antanas A. Jonynas
Eglė Juodvalkė
Jonas Juškaitis
Donaldas Kajokas
Laurynas Katkus
Giedrė Kazlauskaitė
Julius Keleras
Edmondas Kelmickas
Juozas Kėkštas
Faustas Kirša
Ina Kontvainytė
Linvydas Krivickas
Kostas Kubilinskas
Vincas Kudirka
Mindaugas Kvietkauskas
Leonas Lėtas
Juozas Macevičius
Bronius Mackevičius
Algimantas Mackus
Vytautas Mačernis
Maironis
Alfonsas Maldonis
Justinas Marcinkevičius
Tautvyda Marcinkevičiūtė
Aidas Marčėnas
Marcelijus Martinaitis
Eugenijus Matuzevičius
Jonas Mekas
Eduardas Mieželaitis
Algimantas Mikuta
Nijolė Miliauskaitė
Antanas Miškinis
Henrikas Nagys
Kęstutis Navakas
Salomėja Neris
Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas
Marijus Pakštas
Sigitas Parulskis
Gintaras Patackas
Edita Petrauskaitė
Kornelijus Platelis
Kęstutis Pocius
Birutė Pukelevičiūtė
Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas
Henrikas Radauskas
Kęstutis Rastenis
Vacys Reimeris
Vytautas Rudokas
Shirley Ruksznis Young
Danguolė Sadūnaitė
Vytautas Skripka
Darius Victor Sniečkus
Zita Sodeika
Balys Sruoga
Laima Sruoginis
Simonas Stanevičius
Rimvydas Stankevičius
Marija Stankus-Saulaitis
Antanas Strazdas
Jonas Strielkūnas
Liūnė Sutema
Ričardas Šileika
Vladas Šimkus
Lidija Šimkutė
Darius Šimonis
Paulius Širvys
Antanas Škėma
Vladas Šlaitas
Alvydas Šlepikas
Julija Švabaitė
Juozas Tysliava
Pranas Vaičaitis
Judita Vaičiūnaitė
Artūras Valionis
Antanas Venclova
Tomas Venclova
Antanas Vienažindys
Jonas Zdanys
Algirdas Žolynas
Albinas Žukauskas

Modern American Poetry Site (MAPS)

An excellent resource for better understanding poetry, MAPS provides in-depth analysis for poems that can be conveniently found in the Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry as well as biographical information and additional information on the various poets.

Although the poems themselves are not included (unless quoted in one of the essays), one can reference most of the corresponding poems online at places like http://www.poemhunter.com. For example, when reading the James Presley essay for Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America be America”, one can find the corresponding poem at http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/let-america-be-america-again

the poem tree

The Poem Tree, administered and edited by Caleb Murdock,  contains a wealth of metered poetry from Shakespeare up to the present. Although there are many examples of free-form verse in the site’s collection, the primary focus is on more formal poetry.

As Mr. Murdock points out, metered poetry is making a comeback.  One only has to browse the wealth of poetry blogs out there to find many fine examples of active, creative poets that are adhering to past forms

Set aside time to browse the  essays  particularly Murdock’s  “Is It Poetry or Prose?” and “A Look at Scansion Methods”

The Poem Tree also accepts submissions of  previously published poetry submissions (even if only published in a small journal or on a website.)   Both quality and use of meter appear to be an important part of the selection process: those poems posted on the site are worth exploring!

Tarot Mandalas

I want to try to identify some less trafficked blogs that are just as worth visiting as their much busier superhighway neighbors.

Tarot Mandalas is not your traditional poetry blog.  The poems are supposedly based on Tarot Readings — and this is an area I have not knowledge of or understanding of — yet, each entry reads like a wonderfully wrought poem, each with a special musical identity.

The author poets together ten-line stanzas (usually, it seems, into 9 stanza poems).

I am so tempted to quote one of these amazing verses, but don’t wish to do so without the author’s permission. (May update this post with a quote later, if I do get such permission, however, the site appears to have been inactive for awhile.)

Rather than my attempting to further explain the nature of this site, best for you to ditch my blog and visit the Tarot Mandalas site.

Silliman’s Blog

Ron Silliman, the 2006 Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere, provides a website of exploration, an online amusement park, that covers not only poetry but music  (John Cage, Fred Hersch, Anthony Braxton), art, linguistics, books and literature, dance (Merce Cunningham) and other worthwhile subjects.  Make no mistake, this site’s focus is poetry, poems and poets:  videos of topnotch poets reading their works, excerpts of poems, complete poems, external links for living poets, fitting remembrances of those passing on, and Ron Sillman’s own writing.  The amount of content here is overwhelming and a tribute to Sillman’s energy and  productivity.

Check out Mr. Sillman’s site, his blogroll and some of his poems.

Welcome!

Every once in a while, I will post a recommended poem site and some corresponding comments.  I hope you enjoy these sites as much as I do.

For suggestions of worthy sites please add a comment to any of the posts here and your thoughts on sites that should be included.  Even if I don’t include your recommendation as a post, at least by including in your comments, someone with better judgement than I will have your recommended link available for their immediate use.