I didn’t say I was never going to blog. A situation has arisen (a beginning I wouldn’t allow for a writing student) which I can share.
The word “brag” is one we often use as if it has a negative connotation. One ought not brag. Remember Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka? Yes, she turns into a blueberry but she’s also a competitive little braggart. One doesn’t want to be a Violet.
Last year, Thanks-Giving Square sponsored The 40 Virtues Project for schools. Students could earn pretty coins for participating and exhibiting their understanding. Here are the 40.
Benjamin Franklin famously had 13, here and with explanations. He struggled with one in particular. He was a bit proud…
Associated with the school initiative, the Square offered the job of curating 40 matching poems to Dallas poet laureate Mag Gabbert. There was a reading of the first 17 at the Square. Dallas Maverick’s Dwight Powell was among the winners; he read well, and I thought his poem quite good.
The next 23 poems needed attention, so Mag also accepted submissions for the next several months. I decided to make this a goal—submitting all of the missing ones. Why? I have no idea. Last week, the winners were posted with the first set. Several are mine. In fact, 11 are mine. Something about the distribution and/or the font makes that less obvious than it would seem.
You can read all 40 here.
A friend once shared this story with me: “A Peanuts cartoon shows Charlie Brown chatting with his little sister Sally. ‘We’ve been reading poems in school, but I never understand any of them,’ sis complains. ‘How am I supposed to know which poems to like?’ ‘Somebody tells you, ‘big brother replies.”
Troubling on so many levels. But if you like one, let me know. Someone did just that last week. I was stunned. I didn’t know this person but hers was an opinion I valued.
Oh—and don’t say there’s no money in poetry. Mag was awarded $50,000 by the American Academy of Poets and will launch a Sidewalk Poetry Project. Amazing. Worth bragging about, I’d say…