POETS ON THE GREAT RECESSION

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Announcement from POETS ON THE GREAT RECESSION

"To bring the poem into the world
is to bring the world into the poem."

We are pleased to share the inauguration of POETS ON THE GREAT RECESSION at http://poetsonrecession.blogspot.com. The project features poets presenting the many varied face(t)s of their Great Recession experience, and how such has affected (or not) their poetry. We are looking for more poets to participate (see Call below), but poets launching the project are:

Anonymous November 2011
("Neither of my books accepted for publication in 2008 will be issued....I have more than ten unpublished manuscripts.")

Alan Baker November 2011
("England's lamentable slaverie // the kettle’s boiled")

Michelle Bautista November 2011
("...it's important for me to be present, forgiving, truthful, and loving.")

John Bloomberg-Rissman November 2011
("The lower the level of education, the more likely a voter is to take seriously racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-science, religiously fanatical, etc etc candidates.")

Susan Briante November 2011
("... a new confessional—an economic confessional. What’s in your bank account, Poet? Who paid for your down payment? What do you owe? ...we have to locate our place in an economic continuum before we can honestly define our needs, understand the needs of others, activate our sympathies, act for change.")

Anne Gorrick November 2011
("The Great Recession set up a situation where I can say 'yes' to many, many things that make my own work bigger.")

j/j hastain November 2011
("This is a pledge to ever couple with and to never cripple.")

Karen Llagas November 2011
(""Let no one say / it’s just about the money, / that slender, / grief-stricken thing, / so thirsty for company")

Barbara Jane Reyes November 2011
("...surviving this recession as an artist requires that artists do away with a sense of entitlement...")

Leny M. Strobel November 2011
("Decolonization is not just for the post-colonial subject anymore.")

Eileen R. Tabios November 2011
("Gold for Poetry....I consider Poetry to be priceless.")

Dee Thompson November 2011
("Who is not comforted by eggs and cheese?")

Elizabeth Treadwell November 2011
("male dominance obscures / the true contributions of men.")

Erin Virgil November 2011
("Babies never made me sad before.")

Harriet Zinnes November 2011
("There are no outcasts in history. / We are all in its throes.")

***

We are always looking for more poets to participate. Call for Participation is at http://poetsonrecession.blogspot.com/2011/10/call-for-participation.html. Participating poets are asked simply to answer three questions:

1) What is (part of) your Great Recession experience?

2) How has the Great Recession affected your poetry?

3) Please share a poem(s) addressing your Great Recession experience.

***

POETS ON THE GREAT RECESSION is the second of a planned curated series of POETS ON ____ [insert BIG TOPIC on blank]. The first project was POETS ON ADOPTION, for which we continue to look for participants, at http://poetsonadoption.blogspot.com. We invite you to read, participate and please spread the word.

Eileen Tabios,
Poet & Curator of POETS ON ____ series