Matt Hoisch coming to Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

MATT HOISCH will be my featured guest this weekend on Poetry from Daily Life and you’re going to like what he has to say. Matt is an award-winning radio journalist whom you met on November 20 when I featured him on my blog: https://davidlharrison.wordpress.com/2024/11/20/my-special-blog-feature-of-matt-hoisch/.

I was glad when Matt accepted my invitation to write a column for Poetry from Daily Life because I wanted to know what he’s thinking so far after talking to a growing number of state poets laureates and recording his conversations with them. It’s an ambitious task that preserves the thoughts and poems of a group of poets who live at the same time but in different parts of the country.

Matt’s column will appear Saturday in Springfield News-Leader and sometime during the week in five other papers. On Sunday morning I will post the link to the e-edition so we can share it with others we know who will also enjoy what he is learning. Thank you Matt!

A reading at Oceanside Library on Long Island

Hi everyone,

Monday night I enjoyed myself giving a reading via Zoom at Oceanside Public Library in Oceanside, Long Island, New York. My host was TONY LOVINO, Assistant Director of the library, which is undergoing a $40 million revitalization. Here’s a link to their website: https://oceansidelibrary.com/

The free program, called Near and Afar, is held on first and third Mondays at 7:00 EST, and always features a poet from the New York area and a guest from some other part of the country. This event has been going on for eighteen years. I shared the evening with poet MARGARETTE WAHL. When Margarette and I finished, a series of poets in attendance read one poem each during an open mic session. These readers were from all over the country. I was impressed! I don’t know how many other programs like this may exist around the country, but I can certainly testify that the one in Oceanside is marvelous. If you want to see for yourself, by all means check into Near and Afar any first or third Monday night. You might even want to read a poem of your own during the open mic segment. Why not?

I went first so if you are interested in sitting in on my session, here’s the link. https://youtu.be/Zmb_gy1kfIo. Among the poems I chose to read were some for adult audiences (including Missouri, The Price of Eggs, Absence of a Fly, and The Gift ((The Gift was a favorite))) as well as a number of poems for young audiences (including The Feisty Pig of France, Have It Your Own Way, Death of a Wasp, and It’s a Lollity-Popity Day!).

My Word of the Month poem for December

Hi everyone,

Here’s my poem for December, inspired by the word, SLUSH.

The Slush Pile

Choose me!
Choose me!
Oh please!
Choose me!

Manuscripts? They come and go.
Most are pretty bad although
here and there’s a spark or two.

Choose me!
Choose me!
Oh please!
Choose me!

The weary reader hopes to find
a fresher, knock-your-socks-off kind
of manuscript, but few do.

The slush pile is endless, deep.
Hours before exhausted sleep.
Never finish, never through.

Choose me!
Choose me!
Oh please!
Choose me!

Then! Yes! A precious stone!
A single story that stands alone.
An idea that’s fresh and new!

So it happens once in a while,
a rescue from the slush pile,
that fans a writer’s hopes anew.

Choose me!
Choose me!
Oh please!
Choose me!

(C) 2024 David L. Harrison, all rights reserved

Podcast with Geogria Heard

Hi everyone,

My thanks to SAM BOMMARITO (DR. SAM) for the podcast interview of GEORGIA HEARD and me that is embedded in the new issue of Missouri Reader, the journal published by Missouri Reading Association.

https://viewer.joomag.com/winter-2024-edition/0050255001732049566/p36?short=

Our back and forth conversation covers a range of ideas and examples of how to bring poetry into the classroom to help students develop reading comprehension and fluency skills. It was a pleasure to get with Georgia to talk about subjects dear to our hearts. I hope you will enjoy the result.

David Harrison on Near and Afar Reading

Hi everyone,

Tonight at 6:00 CST I’ll give a twenty minute poetry reading for a program called Near & Afar, an event provided two Monday nights each month by Oceanside Library in Long Island, New York. The program features two poets, one from the New York area and one from “afar”. Following the readings there will be an open mic for those who want to ask questions or read a poem of their own.

The link to previous readings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqd_9raLN-QYCiFQikgRqvHaNCY8Onmui . For tonight, click https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84107234780?pwd=IRnCzserbjL1KLEU1IEDccbTypUmlJ.1 Meeting ID: 841 0723 4780 Passcode: 834281