poet as madman/woman

Looking for thoughts on the following:

"The nature of literary genius has always attracted speculation, and it was, as early as the Greeks, conceived of as related to 'madness.'. . .The poet is the 'possessed': he is unlike other men, at once less and more; and the unconscious out of which he speaks is felt to be at once sub- and super-rational." --from page 81 of Theory of Literature by Rene Welleck and Austin Warren

I'm in agreement with the speculation that poets are madmen/women within society. A lot of us make our ways through the day and observe, absorb and record sights, sounds, visions, smells and then take those things and use them to comment on our daily experience by writing poems. Sometimes it's a burden to have to write live like this, sometimes it's a release. Usually, it's a release for me. The other day I was pulling up to a traffic light and I looked over and watched a dog stare for a brief moment quizzically at the ground, the dog then drove its chin into the grass and its body followed, until it was writhing uncontrollably on its spine in the grass. Then I looked back to the road and went on my way. It's stuck with me, that image. I know I have to write about it, about how it meant something to me in a larger way. Most of my friends would say, upon my mentioning of this, "You're crazy. It's just a dog." Or something like that. There's plenty of famous poets and writers who have flirted with madness--a large percentage, actually. It's interesting to say the least. Anyone in the network care to comment?

Wilderness House

Many of you know Louisa Solano. As a point of interest, she will be at the Wilderness August 5th, I will be there to video tape the event. We have had wonderful events there and I hope that some of you who read this blog will come. Thank you, Billy Perrault




Wilderness House is owned and managed by the New England Forestry Foundation in cooperation with
the Littleton Rotary Club. Business address: 145 Foster Street, Littleton MA ‐‐ 978‐952‐6340
Wilderness House
Literary Retreat
32 Foster Street (Wilderness Road)
Littleton Massachusetts
www.wildernesshouse.org
August 5 2006, Noon till 4 p.m. $10 (bring a picnic and a poem)
Wilderness House Presents
Lunch with
Louisa Solano
of the Grolier Poetry Bookstore
Louisa Solano was the owner of the Grolier Poetry Bookstore from
1974 till 2006 when she retired. Virtually everyone in modern
American letters has visited the Grolier Poetry Bookshop in Harvard
Square Cambridge. The Grolier Poetry Bookshop is the "oldest
continuous bookshop" devoted solely to the sale of poetry and poetry
criticism, was founded in 1927 by Adrian Gambet and Gordon
Cairnie; the subsequent owner, Louisa Solano, a 1966 graduate of Boston University and bookstore habitué
since 1955, took over operation of the store in 1974 after Cairnie's death.
Solano turned the store into a self-sustaining business. For many years Grolier's has sponsored an annual,
national poetry contest as well as a reading series in nearby Adams House, a dormitory at Harvard.
Solano's knowledge of poetry was well known in the Cambridge and Harvard community, and in the era
before Internet bookselling, she was considered a valuable source for people seeking rare and unusual
poetry titles. Under Solano's management, for example, the store was the first to stock Language Magazine,
the periodical that launched the avant-garde L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry movement.
In addition to owning the Grolier bookstore, Solano has to her credit:
o 1987 & 1998 judged American Book Awards with with Robert Creeley and William Arrowsmith
o Co-founded the Grolier Poetry Prize with Gail Mazur
o Served with Peter Davison as a judge for the Massachusetts Book Award
o Recipient of an award for lifetime achievement from the Lannan Foundation
o Received an award from the Women's National Book Association with the likes of Frances
Steloff, founder of the Gotham Book Mart, and Margaret Chase Smith, former diplomat at the
U.N. for women who had contributed the most to the support of literature in this country.
In March of 2006, the store was officially sold, to Nigerian poet Ifeanyi Menkiti, a professor at Wellesley
College.

lowellpoetrynetwork

Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:08:38 +0000
The Lowell Poetry Network Meeting of July 11, 2006
The whole meeting was spent on Grants with members of the board. They went into detail about it so we barely talked about any thing else. We know that some committees did meet and they started on their projects. Somehow I was left out but I got a list of members and I will contact them as soon as I can. I am interested in the blog and those two committees (3 & 4) about having readings. I may try to get a grant but it takes work to write it out and get it approved. It must benefit the people of Lowell in some way. Grants are available. There are guidelines to be followed and forms to fill out. We were given forms and a summary of the Lowell Cultural Council. What is it all about? The council receives money from the state for the arts.
It must benefit the City of Lowell in some form or another. We should plan to attend the guidelines meeting at the Wanalancet Building on September 5th around 6:30 PM. On October 15th, the council will have another meeting that we should attend also. Every grant will be reviewed and questions asked and applications clarified. All members of the council are volunteers and there are eight of them so we should have 8 copies of our grant application. You can go on the web to get information. The Lowell Cultural Council has a web site. What are they looking for? Well, for one thing last year, Literature did not fair well.
Only 7 per cent were given out for literature. Few applied. Hopefully, we can do something about that. Grants can be made by groups or individually and we must be resident of Lowell. All board members are from Lowell. I can never repeat it enough: the people of Lowell must benefit from any grants granted by the Lowell Cultural Council. Last year, they supported the new Renovation Magazine. How do you write a grant? Well, for one thing, they don’t give out money for you to buy a desktop or computer or furniture. Forget it. We have one year to do a grant from January 1st to December 31st in any given year. Get a form and start working on it. LPN will summit one this year, The committee is already starting. You may have money for a workshop or have readings like we had at the Whistler House. They don’t supply food money. We have to take care of that ourselves like everybody brings a dish. Again, we must have a plan to serve the public of Lowell. A reading f or the public qualifies as acceptable.
It is a good idea to have someone criticize you work or application. In other words, get help. It is available. Council members will work with you. If you go to other towns, you can apply there too. They all get money from the State but Lowell is bigger and gets more. Population has a baring on the amount. At least that’s my understanding. Anyone can apply even people who are not non-profit. We have to remember some points such as
It must have a public benefit.
There must be an end to it.
It must be a convincing application.
Remember bureaucrats govern this.
They feel responsible and we have to fill out forms well.
How do you develop a grant project?
We have the simplest of all. It is two pages long and it is on line. We were given one at the meeting. We definitely need a Title for the project like "A series of readings by Lowell Poets". We need to set limits like when do you start and when will you end like January 1st, 2007 and December 31st, 2007. You could request an extension if you wish and if it is necessary: describe the plan.
Project Description; what is the target audience, "Poetry Lovers". It can be specific or not.
How will it be executed? 5 pieces (readings) presented at the library or by five poets reading from their work or someone else’s.
There must be some public benefit.
How will you let the public know about the reading? People must be aware.
When you prepare your work, don’t just say "Work in progress". Have it criticize and get feedback.
Be creative when putting the application together.
How do you plan to promote your project? What plans do you have in place? Like get postcards to spread around the city in different places like LTC, Visitor Center, Galleries, Stores, Restaurants, Newspapers, etc.
You can get results if you promote it well and reach a lot of people.
Why would anyone like to know anything about Poetry?
If you have 4 readings, will people walk away with having received something?
Who are you trying to reach? For poetry, if 20 people show up, you are successful. Sounds good to me. Put on the application; "This is what I am expecting and this is what I expect out of it". We were given a postcard and the cost was $114.00 for 2,000 postcards. Pretty good. Advertise with the local cable network.
Have a resume ready, 2-paragraph bio.
Set up a budget for the project. The incoming income and the outgoing income must balance. Amount requested must be clear. Don’t expect the full amount. What will make or break the project? Don’t forget your time. Your time is valuable and worth something. It has value, very important. Do not undervalue your time. Give it a dollar value. Check out www.overnightprint.com for postcards and printing something. There are many on line now. Put in space rental for your project. If you write a book, the cost, the publisher, etc. All information you have. Write down Capital Expenditures if any. What income do you expect from this project? Are you going to charge a fee for entrance or will you accept donations. Estimate it and put it down. Sell tickets. Will someone give you 5 wine bottles for the event? How much do you want, be specific? The budget must balance on both sides. Last year, they had 44,000 thousand dollars. Th is year, they expect 50,000 dollars and they are accountable for spending this money. From September to October 15, refine your application to make sure it has good value. There are 8 members on the board and they need 8 copies of your application. Once they receive it on October 15, they have 10 days to read them all and discuss them all. No one will be put in wastebasket # 13 and forgotten. All will be given time and all will be discuss before making any decisions. Guaranteed 100 percent. They may ask the applicant for clarification on some points. Demonstrate how it would benefit the people of Lowell. Remember: it must be shared with the public. Your time has value. If accepted, they will probably give you 30 percent of the cost. Very rarely will they give 80 percent. It has to be super duper and then, some. It can be done, however. Don’t forget, give reading performances. How about poetry on the buses of Lowell? Give it a shot! It’s like buying a lottery ticket. You can’t win u nless you buy a ticket. Contact the council and they will walk you through it and give suggestions on you application. Activate an idea at the September meeting like let’s have money for a poet laureate of Lowell. In September, they will have a guidelines meetings, please attend if interested at the Wanalancet Building, September 5 at 6:30 PM. Marketing should have a priority in your project. Get more folks in Lowell to participate like LPN, UML, STONE SOUP, LTC, WILDERNESS HOUSE, CONCORDE POETS, ETC. It will pay off in success. How about a workshop on marketing? That would be helpful. How about a project for the underserve of the community?
What would connect us to others? It’s all about others, isn’t it? Do an archive project? Get all poetry videos cataloged and put in a library somewhere in Lowell for future young poets? Catalog all names of poets on video and where they are.
Remember: how can we connect our project to the people of Lowell and how can they benefit from our project? On the web site, you can get an application and a summary of the cultural council and what it is all about. I found the evening full of information and it seems like getting a grant requires a lot of preparation and work. You get money for a project but you are required to do a lot of planning and
Thinking and satisfying work. The end result is satisfaction and love of having accomplished something worthwhile. So that’s it.
At least, I hope, I have given you all some information that will help us get some projects off the ground.
Sincerely, always,
Billy Perrault
'

Stone Soup Poets

From: poetrybill@comcast.net [mailto:poetrybill@comcast.net]Sent: Tue 7/25/2006 1:40 PMTo: chad ParenteauSubject: Sue Savoy
Last night at Stone Soup we had Sue Savoy as a feature. She delights poets with her readings and says she is not a poet. I agree with her. She is definitely a stand up comic. She has the gift of the understatement. She has missed her calling. She could make money with that career. She was not recorded so I will not use any of the footage last night but next week, I will have a rerun. We did well. There was a big crowd but Jack did not show up. He may not be feeling well. He is trying to revitalize a reading in Boston on Thursday night at his home. I can't afford 40 dollars for parking. I won't be going. The reading was good.Billy Perrault

Simon Shatner

simon Shatner passed away of a heart attack He was a long time poet of Stone Soup.
Billy Perrault

DNA of Literature

The Paris Review features 50 years of writers at work interviews--for free!

Call For Submissions!

Click on the flyer to be directed to our website for complete guidelines.