MFA Poetry Reading

Last Wednesday, May 6, I was fortunate enough to attend the final reading of the graduating the poetry MFA program. It's nationally recognized as one of the best programs in the country, but it mostly goes under the radar around Grounds. This is regrettable as students are missing out on some incredible readings by very talented and thoughtful people.

This past week's reading was truly memorable and left me excited to see where the people in the program take their lives and poetry. Below I've posted one of the poems read by soon-to-be-graduate Sam Taylor, who has already published one book of poems. This link contains MP3's for each of the five readers. My favorites were Jazzy Danziger-Loyal's "The Psychiatrist’s Teen Daughter Self Evaluates" and Taylor's new poem, "Book of Poems" (which appear at 7:20 on Danziger-Loyal's MP3 and 11:40 on Taylor's). Check them out, come to readings next year.

SONG: INFERNAL


I was lost in the middle of my life
when the planes hit the towers,
lost in the middle of my life
when the glass gods, one at a time, cowered

and fell, when a bomb of blue sky
exploded a bride where she stood—
I was lost in the middle of my life,
far from a leopard, far from a dark wood—

when the night clerk at Circle K
handed me back too much change,
I was lost in the middle of our life’s way,
when an army of wings arranged

on flatbed trucks brushed past me on the road,
I was lost in the hallways of a glass dream,
trying to find my way out to the ground
turning in circles, crying secretly

in green languages, unknown even to me—
far from a lion, far from a dark wood—
with armfuls of fritos, and ribs, and iced tea,
and web pages circling through my blood.

There were wires all around, and siren wails
and people running about, bereft and intent
as I. I didn’t know whether to stay still
and wait for my life to grow transparent

there in my chair, with the sprinklers overhead
like golden showers of sorrow
and emergency lights flashing red
up and down the hall

or whether to run madly from stairwell
to stairwell, kissing women’s knees
and the foreheads of men, drunk on cries for help
beseeching and singing and weeping

entering one life after another
and leaping from each one. Yes, I
was lost in the middle of the tower
when I came upon my life.

Revolt Lit

If you write, you should read this. Revolt Lit is a new literary journal aimed exclusively at writers under the age of 25, and approaches the literary journal from a different angle. Founder, writer, and good friend of this blogger, Christian Harder had this to stay on the new project.

"Young writers do not get the respect or attention they deserve with the current market of literary magazines. Many well-known magazines require that a submitting writer have an agent's petition. This alienates the greatest group of America's literary talent- the youth."

It costs $15 to $5 to submit poetry, short fiction, or rap lyrics to Revolt, but that's really part of Revolt's appeal. The startup is completely non-profit and all proceeds go almost entirely to support various literacy charities. The rest of the fee covers the quality prize money sums. First places lands the writer with $500 for short fiction, $250 for poetry and $150 for rap lyrics. Check out Revolt's clean homepage for details on the rest of the prize money details and instructions on submitting.

Revolt is currently accepting applications for all sections, and will wait until September 2010 to publish its first edition. The journal is currently backed by faculty at Virginia Tech and is seeking support from the National Literary Society, and young writers everywhere. Cheesy lines aside, this is a very real opportunity to get your writing exposed, support a worthy cause and maybe make a little money at it.