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Jenny Factor
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Square Poems in Round Holes (by Jenny Factor)
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When I was a child, I’d often read poems I didn’t understand. I’d throw my thoughts against the poem like a locked box, trying to parse the words together, so that the lock would slip open. There were poets whom... Continue reading
Posted Feb 25, 2013 at The Best American Poetry
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Cool Titles: is 5 (by Jenny Factor)
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I've been thinking lately about Cool. About cool before the concept of cool. Or before the cool people of today knew about the concept of Cool because we weren't born yet. Take E.E. Cummings in 1926, for instance, entitling his... Continue reading
Posted Feb 22, 2013 at The Best American Poetry
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Poetry Society of America's "Old School"
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If you have a little time at work today, I'd highly recommend a brief trip over to the Poetry Society of America's "Old School" collection. Similar in some ways to the classic poems section of Slate, where David Lehman has... Continue reading
Posted Jan 30, 2013 at The Best American Poetry
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The Drunkenness of Things Being Various (by Jenny Factor)
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Since the first of the year, the days here in sunny So Ca have been unseasonably cold and occasionally wet. Several times a day, in and out of the house with dog, in and out of the car with groceries,... Continue reading
Posted Jan 17, 2013 at The Best American Poetry
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Emma, thank you so much! The poem always takes my breath away. I was thinking back to when I first read it. I believe Mark Doty was lecturing at Bennington. He introduced it, and I had purchased White's Salt Ecstasies by the end of the day! The white rabbit on the float photo was on the nurses' float, an award-winner this year. I like to think of him as 'Harvey'. An imaginary friend to cut the winter blues.....j.f.
Toggle Commented Jan 4, 2013 on Those Lonely Early Days of January (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
Those Lonely Early Days of January (by Jenny Factor)
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Two days ago, right about now, my family and I headed over to Orange Grove Boulevard, a wide, almost leisurely road with green lawns and mountain views that slices through the westmost-half of my hometown, Pasadena, CA. We parked nearby... Continue reading
Posted Jan 2, 2013 at The Best American Poetry
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Oh and to be clear! Not all the antics described above (except the beautiful "Still, Still, Still") were entirely Madrigalian. (Is that a word?) Farther to the east, the kids and comrades of several school districts and private schools in the San Gabriel Valley have started the Factor waterworks and childhood flashbacks as well. And there was one amazing amazing 6th grade performance of Lauridson I'll never ever forget! But no one, Joel P., is quite like you!
Toggle Commented Dec 24, 2012 on In Praise of Amateur Singers, Carolers, and More (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
Oh Mr. Pressman!! Thank you for that. With much love this holiday season and in 2013!
Toggle Commented Dec 24, 2012 on In Praise of Amateur Singers, Carolers, and More (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
In Praise of Amateur Singers, Carolers, and More (by Jenny Factor)
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You now behold (in the photo above) a group of Beverly Hills High School alumni (parents, bankers, singers, and friends) returning to the alma mater as they do each December to sing "Still, Still, Still" with their old high school... Continue reading
Posted Dec 24, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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Thanks, Jim! Love hearing your voice too.
Toggle Commented Dec 23, 2012 on Winter Solstice Time (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
Winter Solstice Time (by Jenny Factor)
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Henry David Thoreau, while barely catapulting out of his own 20's, was nevertheless ready to dispense valuable advice on creativity and the energy necessary to sustain a life of purposeful alertness. Here he is speaking on mornings. "The most memorable... Continue reading
Posted Dec 21, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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All to No End from Literary Los Angeles (by Jenny Factor)
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all to no end save beauty the eternal - from The Crowd at the Baseball Game by William Carlos Williams It's been a big week for poetry around here. Last Friday, the Mayor of Los Angeles named our city's first... Continue reading
Posted Dec 13, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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Happy Birthday, Marilyn Hacker (by Jenny Factor)
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Tuesday marked the birthday of poet, Marilyn Hacker. In her honor, I've been thinking about a writing an odd multi-part fairy tale poem, based around a particular Grimm story, and featuring a transgendered bear. I may never finish it (well,... Continue reading
Posted Nov 28, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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Cranberries and Poems: Red Popcorn of the Underworld (by Jenny Factor)
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While cooking cranberries, one wonders where poems come from. Continue reading
Posted Nov 21, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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On Robert Frost, "Bereft" (by Jenny Factor)
Forgive me, those of you in "weather". Under weather. Riding out weather. Here is a poem much on my mind. It has traveled beside me for over a week...leashed (or perhaps, unleashed and dislodged from memory) by the Sandy of... Continue reading
Posted Nov 8, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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Four Halloween Poems from "Why Am I Grown So Cold" by Myra Cohn Livingston (posted by Jenny Factor)
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HOUSE FEAR Always--I tell you this they learned-- Always at night when they returned To the lonely house from far away To lamps unlighted and fire gone gray, They learned to rattle the lock and key To give whatever might... Continue reading
Posted Oct 31, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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Laura, this is so cool!
Toggle Commented Apr 15, 2012 on April 15, 1912 at The Best American Poetry
"Be Ashamed to Die Until You..."* (by Jenny Factor)
Stanley Kunitz once implored all of us to become the person who writes the poem. Every day, I am humbled and delighted by the community of writers, students and faculty, with whom I work at the Antioch University Los Angeles... Continue reading
Posted Apr 14, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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Jim, thank you! You've turned me onto a wonderful new poem. Here's the link to "Walt Whitman, Bathing" for others who might be interested: http://www4.desales.edu/~dsumuse/feat_author.html and a few excerpts.... "After his stroke, he would walk into the woods On sunny days and take off all his clothes Slowly, one plain shoe And one plain sock at a time, his good right hand As gentle as a mother’s, and bathe himself In a pond while murmuring...." and then, "Meanwhile, he would examine The postures of wildflowers, The workings of small leaves, holding them close To his pale eyes while mumbling inaudibly. He would dress then, helping His left side with his right as patiently As he might have dressed the wounded or the dead. And would lead himself toward home like a dear companion." I love how it ends in self-compassion, very appropriate indeed to the November poem. thank you for writing, Jim --j.
Toggle Commented Apr 14, 2012 on God's Optimism in April (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
oh that's priceless! Thank you so much for sharing that!
Toggle Commented Apr 14, 2012 on God's Optimism in April (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
I am amazed and dazzled. What a wonderful experience this must have been! Must be!
Toggle Commented Apr 14, 2012 on Props to Poetry at the Gramercy Tavern by Stacey Harwood at The Best American Poetry
Thank you, Joe!
Toggle Commented Apr 14, 2012 on On Reading, Part I: Reading for Writers (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
Laura, I feel the *exact* same way about you!
Toggle Commented Apr 14, 2012 on God's Optimism in April (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
On Not Knowing with Ron and Sandra (by Jenny Factor)
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I know you're probably not local to Los Angeles, but I wish you could come out to hear two of my literary heroes, Sandra M. Gilbert and Ron Carlson read at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena this weekend. Founded in 1894,... Continue reading
Posted Apr 13, 2012 at The Best American Poetry
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Hi Joe! Thank you for this. Do you mean Carl Phillips? If you have a moment, please tell us more...
Toggle Commented Apr 13, 2012 on God's Optimism in April (by Jenny Factor) at The Best American Poetry
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