poetry/valentines

the poets.org website has poetry-inspired valentines that you can print and cut out to give on valentine's day! sometimes poetry says it best.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20553

I can't seem to find the author of this poem. But i found it interesting.

I want these to be words that affect you.
Words that have meaning, evoke feeling.
Words that are not self-important.
I want them to have meaning for us.
I want to feel them, experience them.
I want them to be not just words.

Taking Poetry to Where People, Um, Live.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/7878965.stm

Poetry aims to set bog standard

New poems will be selected every three months

A competition has been launched to find poetry which will feature in the toilets of Shetland.

Calling it something new

On the topic of naming (societies or collaborative performances), I nominate "hybrid". It's a little short to be the whole name on its own, but has a nice bouquet these days.

books

"For books are more than books; they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men lived and worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives."

-Amy Lowell

how do we think about books today? the irish monks of the middle ages believed that the written word was imbued with some sort of magical, otherworldly power, and they spent their lives carefully copying and illuminating manuscripts. gutenberg's printing press completely revolutionized history when it moved books from the libraries of the rich into the hands and minds of the common people. 

but today, i think it seems like some of us resent them a little. we're bitter when we're forced to venture into the library stacks when we can't find a source online. we're even angrier when we have to buy them for class. but if books are really "the reason why men lived and worked and died," then maybe we're missing something.

Music and Poetry

The discussion below reminded me of this essay, and it's taken me this long to find it.