POETRY DEPTH - ACCEPTANCE CLUES

by Joyce Odam, Editor

Choice can be very subjective, based on my own history of preference and recognition.

The poem that works.

That all its parts fit and belong.

That it is careful and self-respectful of how it is put together in all its aspects -- from correctness of spelling, punctuation (if used), to appropriateness of its language, to its use of line and stanza -- all of which are part of the overall consideration.

That equal care is given to its visual effect on the page.

The overall balance of the poem.

The one I recognize when I see it.      

Signature Poems:

"Where Do We Get All These Burdens", published
in, The Wormwood Review, and chapbook, Lemon
Center For Hot Buttered Roll.

"Into Winter", (Portfolio Press: In A Cool Birth
Anthology, The Promethean Lamp)

"The American Bard", included in the chapbook,
The Confetti Within.

Biases:

Revision after publication; endless tampering after
it has been so resolved and presented.

Admired Poets:

Robert Bly, Mary Oliver, Sylvia Plath, Billy Collins
and Mark Strand.

Emotional Influence (early and late):

Walter de la Mare (childhood).

Edith Sodewrgran (recent discovery), Her Voice
as a relative contemporary link to myself, mother,
and time in my/our history of existence.

Favorite Quotes:

D.H.  Lawrence, "Poems are acts of attention."

Mary Oliver (on reading), "But, to write well it is necessary
to read widely and deeply.  Good poems are the best
teachers.  Perhaps they are the only teachers.  I would
go so far as to say that, if one must make a choice
between reading or taking part in a workshop, one 
should read."  (from A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver) 

Trends:

Growing interest in what I call the, "Ekphrastic Response",
and in the Prose Poem as an exciting way into poetry.