An Evening of Poetry

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: An Evening of Poetry

Monday, August 2nd
Readings begin at 7 p.m.

The Vineyard Wine Bar
142 N. Washington St.
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
443-502-2551

Join us for readings of original work by members of the Harford Poetry and Literary Society, and the mid-day poetry group, Lunchlines.

Many thanks to The Vineyard Wine Bar; the Cecil County Arts Council and the Elkton Arts Center; and the poetry groups, Lunchlines, and the Harford Poetry and Literary Society.

http://vineyardwinebar.com/
http://www.cecilcountyartscouncil.org/
http://lunchlines2010.blogspot.com/2010/03/lunchlines.html
http://harfordpoetrysociety.org/

Lucille Clifton 1936 - 2010

Lucille Clifton, National Book Award winner and former poet laureate of Maryland, died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She was 73.

Mrs. Clifton, a resident of Columbia, was a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and was honored on many other occasions during her career. She was awarded honorary degrees from the University of Maryland and Towson University. She was the poet-in-resident at Coppin State College between 1971 and 1974. The second woman and the first African American to serve as poet laureate of Maryland, she was also the first black woman to win the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize award, in 2007, among the most prestigious awards that can be won by an American poet. It included at $100,000.00 stipend.

Besides her eleven poetry collections, Mrs. Clifton published 20 children's books, and her poems have appeared in more than 100 anthologies, according to her biography.

Mrs. Clifton and her husband, Fred Clifton, a philosophy professor at the University of Buffalo, moved to Baltimore in the 1960s and had six children. Her husband died in the 1984. (source The Baltimore Sun February 14, 2010)

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/79

Winter

Winter

The wind carries an antiseptic bite and also
the clicking sound of ice-coated branches.

A male cardinal calls,
"Birdy-birdy-birdy."
He flits like fire through the shimmering
glisten of his ink-drawn world.

Winter is not silent, still like death.
It is only a cleansing pause, the quiet season.

~~~~~Carol Bindel

Previously published in Chesapeake, a publication of the National League of American Pen Women, 1996; and again in "From The Front Porch," Spotlights #19, The Harford Poetry and Literary Society, 1997.

Breathe Books

Check out this weeks events at Breathe Books:
http://www.breathebooks.com/index.php

Writing Class: Progress through PoetryClass

Poetry is a powerful vehicle for expression and change. The very nature of a poem (precise language, concentrated intention, and vivid imagery) allows it to move and touch us so deeply. Using poetry as a medium of discussion and inspiration, the class will talk about and write from the themes, images, and triggering subjects that arise for us as readers, as humans.

One does not have to be interested in writing poetry but more willing to write from the universal themes of poetry. We will not just interpret the poem’s meaning, but we will look beyond what is on the page and what is coming up for us emotionally, psychologically, and creatively.

Mary Oliver captured the essential power of poetry and wrote, “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.”

The class is for anyone with an interest in creative writing, philosophical discussions, and poetry. Taught by Soo Young Lee, published writer, English professor, Transformative Consultant Cost: Drop-in: $45