Teeny Tiny Press by Amanda Laughtland

The students in my English 100 classes recently submitted their essays about reading and interpreting poetry. They had three poems to choose from--in the essay they just needed to write about one poem and how their interpretation of that poem developed over time. (I thank Nancy Kennedy for the framework of this assignment; she gave it to me many years ago now.) I try to change up the selection of poems for this assignment, and this quarter I assigned "The Cabbage" by Ruth Stone for the first time. The full text of the poem is available here on poets.org . I think the students enjoyed this poem. Rereading it again I find it's a good example of a poem that makes interesting use of "you" rather than "I" for its voice; I think this can be hard to pull off. This poem would be a good basis for a writing exercise in which you write a piece in the second-person voice. Ruth Stone also has a great poem about having a burger at McDonald's, but it doesn'...

Do you ever go to the library to get some work done? I'm not sure if it's more effective or not, but I've felt less than productive lately, so I thought it was worth a try. I did actually get five pages of work done, so that's something. After this little break, I'm hoping to finish three more pages. Meanwhile, check out this poem by Lorine Niedecker that someone painted on a brick wall. Photo by Andy Wallman. OK, three more pages...!

A few bloggers have posted about my online poetry class recently, and I wanted to say thank you. Beach Sloth wrote about my class on Blogger and also put the posting on tumblr , which is cool because my friends Katie and Suzanne and Chad reblogged it. I really enjoy Beach Sloth's writing, and I hope you have a chance to check out one of the posts from this creative writer who spends a lot of time reading and writing about contemporary poetry and prose by indie authors. Eileen Tabios mentions the class in part of a post about the tiny chapbook I published of her tiny book , Novel Chatelaine . By the way, Eileen is looking for tiny books as part of her new project, Sit With Moi, so be sure to check it out and maybe even make a small book to send her! She always does a great job of sharing her projects through photos, blog posts, and more. Thanks also to Reading Renee for her post about the class, and to Bethany Reid for mentioning my blog as part of a "poetry blog hop...

On Thursday, I visited the EMP for the first time ever. I'd like to say that I've already written a poem about Kurt Cobain's cardigan sweater and fragments of a guitar that Jimi Hendrix destroyed because he wanted to sacrifice something he loved, but I've been catching up on work rather than writing. By the way, if you ever visit the EMP, be sure to buy your tickets online because the price is $5 cheaper per ticket that way, $15 instead of $20. It's weird seeing all the stuff about Nirvana in a museum because it feels like seeing an exhibit about your neighbors who suddenly became famous. There are Polaroids and other photos that band members and their friends took; you see these young guys sitting on their friends' couches, etc. There are handwritten set lists, and lyrics on notebook paper in ballpoint pen. There's a drawing of Ronald Reagan that Kurt Cobain drew in art class as a teenager. It feels like an exhibit about people you know--former students o...

Here's a poem I wrote for Trish some time ago, and I think it's a good fit for Valentine's Day. This was published in Sinister Wisdom last year, and the editors kindly nominated it for a Pushcart Prize. Learning You said the Greeks said "know thyself" and "all things in moderation" and I agree it may be best to know me moderately, a woman who loves cookies, movies, Converse hi- and low-tops, books, cats, cardigan sweaters and--immoderately--you. Know me deeply and there's the mire of things I'm still learning. You know how I thought I didn't want kids? I've learned it was only that I'd never known any nor any adult who could surprise me into imagining myself with a family. I hope everyone enjoys the day. We're planning to go to the Experience Music Project to finally see the Nirvana exhibit!

In thinking about Valentine's Day and choosing a love poem that I especially like, "The Shampoo" by Elizabeth Bishop comes to mind. Here's the text of the poem, courtesy of an image from The Young Radicals . Anyone have poems that come to mind around Valentine's Day? Please do share if you have a moment!

My April poetry class is one-fourth of the way full, which is very exciting. I think this idea to run an indie online class came just in time because my computer crashed last night--if the class fills, it should cover about half the price of a new computer. The computer crashed just after I finished writing the budget proposal for Between the Lines for the 2013-14 school year; unfortunately I wasn't able to email the proposal in time, so I'll have a little rewriting to do later today. Oh, and I have 50 essay drafts to comment on, too. I'm borrowing a computer at this moment, but of course the other big item on my to-do list for today is to buy a computer! Meanwhile, if there's a poet in your life who might like a unique Valentine's Day gift, why not sign him or her up for an online class ? As Oscar Wilde said, "Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing." (I struggle with self-promotion, so I thought I'd turn to Oscar Wilde for inspira...

I've decided to offer a 100% online poetry class for National Poetry Month this year. I've been wanting to put together a free-standing online class for quite a while now, and I'm finally giving it a try! As most of you know, I teach online every quarter at Edmonds Community College, so I have a lot of experience in the distance learning format. The difference, of course, is that this class is completely independent of any college or other educational program. Below is a description of the class and information on how to register. * Celebrate National Poetry Month by treating yourself to an affordable online poetry writing class with a helpful, down-to-earth instructor. Learn to write poems from the comfort of your home through a supportive, accessible online workshop. No previous experience with poetry writing or online classes required. The course instructor, Amanda Laughtland, is a published poet with an MFA in English from the University of Washington. A trained ...