Entries by Bethany

While looking for a poem…

While looking for a poem that I’m pretty sure I posted to the old blog (One Bad Poem), I rediscovered this audio clip on NPR, an essay by Alan Heathcock about the pleasures of reading a poem a day: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/26/143853118/a-poem-a-day-portable-peaceful-and-perfect.

The Question

One of the pleasures of having a poetry book is that at poetry readings I am sometimes asked to trade copies with another poet. That’s how I came upon Water Chasing Water by Koon Woon. Our conversation also resulted in the review of Sparrow at Five Willows. So here is the poem that spoke to me this morning: […]

It Doesn’t Have to Be Good (2)

Yes, yes, I’ve used this post title before. It’s still the best advice I can offer anyone at the onset of a big project. Of an abstractly, potentially big project. Here’s a line that I think I found in You’ve Got a Book in You, by Elizabeth Sims: “A year from now you’ll wish you had started today.” The […]

Wendell Berry

At his recent Seattle reading, poet Ted Kooser suggested that we read about 100 poems for every one we write. I decided I would try to take that seriously. Well, somewhat seriously, and I have been reading poems every morning, even while working on the novel. Here’s one of the poems I read today — […]