MEET THE NEXT POET LAUREATE - PHILIP LEVINE (video)

Philip Levine, the Pulitzer-Prize winner known for his brooding and personal verse about the working class, will be the country's new poet laureate.

The 83-year-old Levine will succeed fellow Pulitzer winner W.S. Merwin this fall. The laureate, who receives $35,000 and is known officially as the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, serves from October through May. Richard Wilbur, Joseph Brodsky and Robert Pinsky are among the previous appointees.

"I'm a fairly irreverent person and at first I thought, 'This is not you. You're an old union man,'" Levine told the Associated Press. "But I knew if I didn't do this, I would kick myself. I thought, "This is you. You can speak to a larger public than has been waiting for you in recent years.'"

Receiving pretty much every literary honor, Levine is a Detroit native who has worked in automobile plants and for decades chronicled, celebrated and worried about blue collar life. Levine's awards include the Pulitzer in 1995 for "The Simple Truth" and the National Book Award in 1991 for "What Work Is."

We'd say Bukowski would be proud of him...


For more on Levin, click HERE. Examples of his work can be found HERE.

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A PROBLEM FOR E-POETS?

This is interesting and I suspect will be a problem for many of us with the advent of e-readers and tablet/pad-like browsers...

Billy Collins, one of the country's most popular poets, had never seen his work in e-book form until he recently downloaded his latest collection on his Kindle.

He was unpleasantly surprised.

"I found that even in a very small font that if the original line is beyond a certain length, they will take the extra word and have it flush left on the screen, so that instead of a three-line stanza you actually have a four-line stanza. And that screws everything up," says Collins, a former U.S. poet laureate whose "Ballistics" came out in February.

Read more HERE

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MEET MICHAEL MADSEN ... BUKOWSKI-ESQUE POET

Most of us know thesp Michael Madsen from his character work in such films as "Sin City," "Donnie Brasco" and "Reservoir Dogs." How many of you knew that the tough guy actor was also a poet.

Yes... A poet who has already published several poetry collections.

Madsen has been writing poetry for over 10 years and began his writing on match books, napkins and hotel stationery in between his time working on movie sets and traveling around the world.

In 2005, 13 Hands Publications, founded by Michael P. Naughton, compiled all of his poetry and released "The Complete Poetic Works of Michael Madsen, Vol I: 1995-2005." The book has been an international success and is the only authorized compilation of Madsen's poetry. The original books released were "Beer, Blood and Ashes" (1995), "Eat The Worm" (1995), "Burning in Paradise" (1998), and the now out of print "A Blessing of the Hounds" (2002), "46 Down; A Book of Dreams and Other Ramblings" (2004) and "When Pets Kill" (2005).

Madsen's friend and fellow actor Dennis Hopper described his poetry as a throwback to the Beat Generation: "I like him better than Kerouac: raunchier, more poignant, he's got street language, images I can relate to, blows my mind with his drifts of gut-wrenching riffs; this actor is a poet and he is cool, of course, he is Michael Madsen." Madsen notes his influences for his style of poetry as being Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski. His latest book of poetry, entitled "American Badass," was released in 2009 and he dedicated the book to the memory of his friend and "Kill Bill" co-star David Carradine.

On April 2, he made an appearance at Triden Booksellers in Boston, MA, to sign copies of "American Badass." Slash film was fortunate enough to sit down with him to chat about his career and offered some interesting tidbits about his poetry as well as his work with director Quentin Tarantino.

Also check out what he has to say about Bukowski...

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PULTIZER WINNERS FOR FICTION AND POETRY

Let's congratulate this year's winners for The Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and Poetry.

For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, the award goes to "Tinkers," by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press). It explores a powerful celebration of life in which a New England father and son, through suffering and joy, transcend their imprisoning lives and offer new ways of perceiving the world and mortality.

Also nominated as finalists in this category were "Love in Infant Monkeys," by Lydia Millet (Soft Skull Press), an imaginative collection of linked stories, often describing a memorable encounter between a famous person and an animal, underscoring the human folly of longing for significance while chasing trifles; and “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders,” by Daniyal Mueenuddin (W.W. Norton & Company), a collection of beautifully crafted stories that exposes the Western reader to the hopes, dreams and dramas of an array of characters in feudal Pakistan, resulting in both an aesthetic and cultural achievement.

In Poetry, this year's award goes to "Versed,” by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press). The collection is striking for its wit and linguistic inventiveness, offering poems that are often little thought-bombs detonating in the mind long after the first reading.

Also nominated in the category were “Tryst,” by Angie Estes (Oberlin College Press), a collection of poems remarkable for its variety of subjects, array of genres and nimble use of language; and “Inseminating the Elephant,” by Lucia Perillo (Copper Canyon Press), a collection of poems, often laced with humor, that examine popular culture, the limits of the human body and the tragicomic aspects of everyday experience.

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THANKS TO THE WEB, POETRY IS ON FIRE

Via The Telegraph: Poetry, one of mankind's oldest art forms, is enjoying a resurgence due to the internet, according to the writers themselves.

Rather than killing it off, modern technologies like email, social networking sites such as Facebook and online media players are helping poets reach new audiences.

The grassroots scene is now growing, with live poetry readings becoming more popular and more poets getting their own pamphlets published.

Competitions are also booming: the number of entries for the Foyle Young Poets Award more than doubling from 2003 to 2008 to almost 12,000.

To read more, click HERE.

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CIGARETTE SESSIONS: BUKOWSKI (TRIBUTE VIDEO)

Check out this tribute video - a short film directed by and starring Joel Vetsch, with actual narration from Bukowski himself reading his poem 'Something For The Touts, The Nuns, The Grocery Clerks, And You...'

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TOM WAITS READS BUKOWSKI'S 'THE LAUGHING HEART'

It's easy to see how the sensibilities of musician Tom Waits and author Charles Bukowski easily coincide with one another. Here, Waits reads Bukowski's "The Laughing Heart" (posted below)

THE LAUGHING HEART
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

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BUKOWSKI POETRY FOR KIDS

OK, so now that I have a kid and all I think it may be time to introduce him to the Chuck Buk world of kiddie poetry. Enjoy this hilarious video

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TOM WAITS: HOLD ON

Enjoy this video and lyrics for "Hold On," one of my favorite Tom Waits songs. Chuck full of old school imagery, the tune has a solemn, sad energy about it. Please enjoy...



HOLD ON
They hung a sign up in out town
"if you live it up, you won't
live it down"
So, she left Monte Rio, son
Just like a bullet leaves a gun
With charcoal eyes and Monroe hips
She went and took that California trip
Well, the moon was gold, her
Hair like wind
She said don't look back just
Come on Jim
(Chorus)
Oh you got to
Hold on, Hold on
You got to hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here
You gotta hold on
Well, he gave her a dimestore watch
And a ring made from a spoon
Everyone is looking for someone to blame
But you share my bed, you share my name
Well, go ahead and call the cops
You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops
She said baby, I still love you
Sometimes there's nothin left to do
Oh you got to
Hold on, hold on
You got to hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here, you got to
Just hold on.

Well, God bless your crooked little heart St. Louis got the best of me
I miss your broken-china voice
How I wish you were still here with me
Well, you build it up, you wreck it down
You burn your mansion to the ground
When there's nothing left to keep you here, when
You're falling behind in this
Big blue world
Oh you go to
Hold on, hold on
You got to hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here
You got to hold on
Down by the Riverside motel,
It's 10 below and falling
By a 99 cent store she closed her eyes
And started swaying
But it's so hard to dance that way
When it's cold and there's no music
Well your old hometown is so far away
But, inside your head there's a record
That's playing, a song called
Hold on, hold on
You really got to hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here
And just hold on.

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