Chaparral from the Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. serving Californiaupdr poets for over 60 yearsaftsVolume 65, No. 4 • May, 2004

President A Passion for Poetry (and Profits) James Shuman, PSJ By Stephen Kinzer, The New York Times First Vice President Jeremy Shuman, PSJ When John W. Barr was a teenager, he walked into his family’s living room and Second Vice President announced that he had decided to become a poet. Katharine Wilson, RF “That’s fine,” his father replied, “but go to college so people will think you’re an Third Vice President eccentric, not just a beach bum.” Pegasus Buchanan, Tw Barr followed that advice. He studied English lit- Fourth Vice President etry Association. Although it was often on the brink erature at Harvard and later earned a business de- Eric Donald, Or of bankruptcy, its monthly magazine, Poetry, with a gree, becoming an investment banker and making a Treasurer circulation of about 11,000, emerged as the most im- fortune on Wall Street. But he never lost his passion Ursula Gibson, Tw portant journal of poetry in the . In 1915 for poetry and now finds himself in a job that suits it published for the first time a poem written in what Recording Secretary his rare combination of interests. Lee Collins, Tw continued on page two: ‘Passion’ At 61, Barr has moved to Chicago from New York Corresponding Secretary Dorothy Marshall, Tw to become president of the Poetry Foundation, with Convention highlights a challenge perhaps unique in the history of litera- Members-at-Large Chair ture: deciding how to make use of a gift worth more recapped for the record Frances Yordan, FG than $100 million. The gift, which came in 2002 from Developed around the theme of Flight, an excit- ing and enjoyable program of events filled the 2004 Monthly Contest Chair Ruth Lilly, the pharmaceutical heiress, shook the Pegasus Buchanan, Tw world of American poetry. CFCP Convention held in the Ontario Airport Marriott April 30 – May 2. Convention Chair, 2004 For most of the 20th century the Poetry Founda- Marjorie Voigt, Tw tion was a small institution called the Modern Po- Each participant received a handy 6 1/2 x 9 note- Convention Program Chair book with snap closure, inscribed with the name of the Pegasus Buchanan, Tw Geri Doran receives the 2004 organization on the outside, a pad of notepaper , nu- Annual Contest Chair Walt Whitman Award merous pockets, and a pen holder inside. Also included Lisabeth Shuman, M@L The Academy of American Poets announced on in their “goodie bag” were several magnets, message Youth Contest Chair May 5 that Geri Doran has won the 2004 Walt pads, ball point pens, and other items of interest. Norma King Green, VW Whitman Award for her first book-length collection Those who arrived on Friday afternoon participated Children’s Poetry Fair of poems, Resin, which will be published in the spring in a program on the topic of Favorite Poems Written Betty Jean Reynolds, PSJ of 2005. The winning manuscript was chosen by by Other Poets. The official opening at 7 pm began Henri Cole from over 1250 entries in an open com- with greetings from Edward Cortez, Mayor of the City Publications Chair of Pomona, followed by the reading of the Theme James Shuman, PSJ petition. The Academy of American Poets has awarded Ms. Doran a $5,000 cash prize and will pur- Poem, ides of winter, by debee loyd. Roster and ByLaws Chair Jeremy Shuman, PSJ chase copies of her book for distribution to its mem- This was followed by Highlights from CFCP His- bers. She will also receive a one-month residency at Archivist and Librarian tory, a somewhat informal recollection of anecdotes Katharine Wilson, RF the Vermont Studio Center. of past CFCP activities by Pegasus Buchanan, past Millennium Poetry On selecting Geri Doran’s manuscript for the state president; and concluded by Tumbleweed chap- C. Joy Haas, RF award, Henri Cole wrote: ter anecdotes from Anna Mae Johnson “Jonni” Terrell and Elaine Lazzeroni. Web Site In her remarkable first book, Resin, Geri Doran www.ChaparralPoets.org transforms the viscous substance of life into the Saturday’s events began with Meet the Authors in the amber liquid of poetry. Her poems—intelligent, book room, which remained open throughout the day for

FEDERATION restrained, sorrowful—appear engraved by a browsing and discussions. Morning sessions across the of master’s hand. hall in Grand Ballroom, Salon 2 included Everett Ruess: Geri Doran grew up in northwestern Montana. She Poet, Artist, Adventurer by Mary and Wil Hurley, and CHAPARRAL received a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College and Poetry on the Web by Ursula T. Gibson. a master of fine arts from the University of Florida The Poets’ Luncheon, held in the lovely 3-story and also attended the University of Michigan and Atrium of the Lobby, included a troubador, Jeremy poets CALIFORNIA inc. continued on page six: “Whitman Award” continued on page two: ‘Convention’

Copyright 2004 California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. Chaparral Updrafts, Volume 65, No. 4, May 2004. All rights reserved. Poets retain rights to their poems. Copyright 2004 California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. All rights reserved. Poets retain rights to their poems. ‘Passion for Poetry’ drives new director Chaparral continued from page one The chairwoman of the foundation’s updrafts was then a new form, free verse. The poem board, Deborah Cummins, said that after re- ceiving Ms. Lilly’s huge gift the foundation Editor & Publisher ...... James Shuman was “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and it had been written a few years earlier by would change, but that “we’ve really had to 2521 Meadow Rue Drive a 23-year-old named T. S. Eliot. Carl stop, as a group, to consider what needs to Modesto, CA 95355-3910 Sandburg’s “Chicago Poems” and Wallace be done and what we can now do.” 209-523-6954 FAX 209-521-8778 Stevens’s “Sunday Morning” were also first “It’s new territory for us,” she said. Treasurer ...... Ursula T. Gibson published in Poetry. “We’ve been transformed from a fund-rais- P O Box 806, Tujunga, CA 91043 Ms. Lilly’s huge gift threw the organiza- ing board to a management board, and then 818-353-7174 tion first into ecstasy and then into confusion. to a policy-making and guidance board that Corresponding Secretary In a move that stunned the tight-knit commu- has to think of a grand vision.” ...... Dorothy Marshall nity of American poets, the magazine’s long- Some poets are concerned about what 430 Eleventh St, Pomona, CA 91766 time editor, Joseph Parisi, resigned last sum- course the foundation may now follow and 888-308-7488 mer. Some took his departure as a signal that especially about the future of Poetry maga- zine. Mr. Parisi, its former editor, declined Please send news and information items to corporate auditors were pushing aside true lov- the editor one month in advance of intended ers of literature. But, sitting in his Chicago of- to comment on his departure, but others were publication date. fice, Barr insisted that there would be no con- less reticent. For questions involving membership, either flict between his commitment to good man- “I was very disconcerted by it, as were new or renewal, please contact the treasurer. agement and his love of poetry. He said Stevens most poets in America,” David Bottoms, the Be sure to visit our new web site: and Eliot “broke a lot of ice for us all” by com- poet laureate of Georgia, said. “At this point http://www.ChaparralPoets.org bining careers in business and poetry. I’d say American poets are a little bit fearful “In both of these fields you use creativity but also hopeful that the eclectic and very to find order in a chaotic experience,” he said. high-level quality that Joe represented will Convention recalled “Business does that in the external world. Po- be continued. The last few issues under the continued from page one etry does it internally by way of articulation.” new editor, Christian Wiman, have been very Corr, who serenaded the group during the good, which is reassuring because that maga- “To me this is a historic opportunity in zine is an American institution.” meal with a selection of his own works and American poetry,” he said. “Poetry helps us “I’m very heartened that someone would those of other artists. live better, helps us understand the human give that kind of money to poetry or to any A program of piano music by Dr. Henry experience. It is with us at the heights and of the arts, but what they do with it is an- Sheng initiated the afternoon sessions. This depths of that experience. Our goal is to get other question,” Mr. Bottoms said. was followed by It Only Hurts When I Laugh, it in front of people whose lives it can change a discussion of humorous poetry by Dr. Jack for the better. But I’m also very excited about Tree Swenson, executive director of the Fulbeck, and a two-part session on Sonnets the management opportunities. Academy of American Poets, based in New by Elaine Lazzeroni. The Youth Contest York, said Barr was a good choice to lead “I don’t see any reason why a cultural or- the Poetry Foundation. Awards were presented in late afternoon, and ganization can’t be run like a good corpora- “In a past life I ran an organization that two sessions followed in the evening: a slide tion. If we can do that, we’ll not only be on received a large philanthropic gift, and I can and prose poem commentary by Keith Van the road to success ourselves but may even be tell you that it’s really hard to manage change Vliet; and a two-person Poetic Dialog by Ri- able to give some ideas to other arts groups.” chard Thielo and Lee Collins. on that level,” Ms. Swenson said. “Barr is His favorite poets range from Yeats to As always, the “unscheduled” read- one of the few people who have that combi- Billy Collins but he adds that he often won- nation, knowing the world of financial man- arounds following the last session were ders whether other masters might be work- highly popular each evening. agement from his business career and also ing in secret. “I am always haunted by the being very knowledgeable not just about con- The Membership Meeting was well at- thought that the poetry of today that will be temporary poetry but also about the organi- tended with good audience participation. A celebrated a century from now is unknown zations around this country that are working rather lengthy but essential discussion on to us now,” he said. in the field. There’s this notion that poetry CFCP’s approach to youth outreach resulted One of Barr’s first tasks will be to pro- and money don’t mix, but that’s just what it in several good suggestions which will be pose how the Poetry Foundation should use is, a romantic notion.” acted upon in coming months. its new wealth. Will it give grants to poets, Mr. Barr has published several books of Unfortunately, because the discussion con- sponsor public events, publish its own line poetry and has taught poetry at Sarah sumed most of the morning, the session that of books, design poetry courses for high Lawrence. He said that much of what the foun- had been scheduled to follow was re-scheduled schools and colleges? dation did with its new wealth would be aimed to follow the afternoon Awards program, Po- “We haven’t finished our search for the at expanding the audience for poetry in the etry and Music by Marie Searles, and Rhyme best ideas,” he said. “We need to think of this United States, especially among young people. continued on page six as our first order of business.” Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

PAGE 2 Chaparral Updrafts Copyright 2004 California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. All rights reserved. Poets retain rights to their poems. Monthly Contest Winners Caught in Mid-Kiss Self-Portrait with Pipe

Two lithe, intense lovers. and Yellow Smoke Spiraling Her hands curl round his head, Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, January, 1889 his neck, her long slim legs drape across his lap. Look at the white bandage She is far more dedicated wrapped under his chin and around his face. to this kiss than he. You are supposed to stare. His hands make no contact. His piercing blue eyes insist. Only his hot, willing mouth. Bundled in green coat and azure hat, My eyes linger on the pair pipe clamped tightly between pale lips, caught by a camera in mid-kiss. he tricks you into gaping. But it’s her shoes that remind Some of you, diffident, squeamish, take me back to 1969 might want to argue whether Vincent the same shoes I wore cut off his right ear, or his left. the year of my Latin love, the year The summer before, when he bought the mirror he said beautiful, you’re beautiful for the little yellow house in Arles, a hundred times a day, sang praises he affirmed his task was to lay bare his soul, (the first to sing such praises) not set mirrors at angles to my long, slim legs. so he could see himself as others saw him.

For decades I’ve searched So in this portrait, with greater precision for those black patent-leather than the razor slashing across his ear, clunky heeled shoes Vincent cuts open his heart with the marquisite buckles. and exposes even more of his anguish. Now I know. She’s wearing them, He is shouting at you, that lithe, intense girl in the picture. when you forget his bandage, Ah, but does that shadow of a man to remember the spirals of smoke she so ardently kisses rising like golden incense from his breast make love to her in Spanish and consecrating your silent suffering. whenever she asks? —Rose Ann Spaith, Columbus, OH —Phyllis Williams, Cupertino, CA —Second Prize, February —First Prize, February

Tumbleweed

A tumbleweed as tall as a car that new silver car blew into town, by the post-office curb, into the middle of town. and we wonder who, Well, as we saunter along, Our town may be small but will come to retrieve it isn’t so small that we the car from the weed, usually see the tumbleweed measuring tumbleweeds itself by the car, the new silver car, tumbling down this tumbleweed stalled in the middle of town, like a rumor through stopped in its the middle of town, tumbling, —Cleo Griffith, Salida, CA a tumbleweed the size of a car, tumbling down. —Third Prize, February

MAY 2004 PAGE 3 Copyright 2004 California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. All rights reserved. Poets retain rights to their poems. Monthly Contest Winners Meyer’s Candy and Stationary Store Behind the counter a young lady who loves me. Tonight I’m Coming Home Tired I know because she told me so the first week I went there. So I imagine a cat, a companionable cat, greeting me with her lustrous eyes. She said I looked like someone she once knew, someone special. I haven’t had a cat for ten years Oh, an old boyfriend, a lover? and Bill has been gone for months. I must be her type. Sunday evening and the apartment is empty. She showed me a cracked photo, two fat old men in homburgs, I’ll induce the lamp light of my teenage home, and side curls. glowing Sunday afternoons You see who you are, on the thin carpet, the one on the right. over the black rattan sofa, Taken aback, I try not to show it. bright in the wood grain This is father. of Mother’s rocking chair. After that I avoided the store; but then when I needed some lozenges Mother will be here with us teenage girls; she was there of course. we’ll have our usual Sunday evening treat: Handed them to me along with a tissue cinnamon toast, contentment, and tea, that’s for your runny nose. (sometimes Vienna sausages and kippered herring).

She looked me in the eye. We’ll listen to music on the radio, I hear you write poetry. sing In the Gloaming — with pathos — in two part I nodded, thinking harmony, I’m not coming here anymore. wipe away hyper-sentimental tears. And then She put the change in my palm slowly laugh at ourselves. one coin at a time. I write too, in my diary; —Norm Kohout, Sacramento, CA would you read it sometime —Third Prize, March and see all the bad things that happened to me?

—Richard J. Thielo, Upland, CA —First Prize, March

Harpoon

I float through the upturned eye I swim up swim up in a whirlpool of upturned eyes of the sea into the heartbeat the crimson throat their humanity haunting of a whale, of the sea, haunting her lung caverns echoing my flesh flensing echoing fear. flensing away. The vanished rim of the sea The fetus is first Only an image stays where I dip my raven’s wing to sliver away like a fossil. in final salute. before killing spears explode the core of her grief The horizon heaves and turns —Elizabeth A. Bernstein, Paradise, CA and blood drowns the sun. heaves and turns —Second Prize, March

PAGE 4 Chaparral Updrafts Copyright 2004 California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. All rights reserved. Poets retain rights to their poems. A handy info-page Here is the page you’ll want to have handy CFCP, Inc. Monthly Contests when people ask how to join CFCP, or for Except where otherwise indicated, poems are limited to 28 lines R U L E S your own double-checking of the monthly JANUARY — Free Verse Contests are open to all poets in the contest categories and rules. Both items are United States and Canada. Each poem contained in a convenient reference source: FEBRUARY — Poet’s Choice submitted must be typewritten on stan- dard size paper with the contest month one that can be photocopied and given to pro- MARCH — Any Subject, Any Style spective new members or pinned on the bul- in the upper right-hand corner. Send APRIL — Light or Humorous Verse ONE COPY of each poem with author’s letin board above your desk. name and address in the upper left- And be sure to send in your poems to the MAY—Poet’s Choice hand corner of the reverse side. Ad- monthly contest... it’s where many of us first dress labels are acceptable. Multiple JUNE — Children, Pets or Places entries are especially welcome. see our names in print! The price is so mini- JULY — no contest Only UNPUBLISHED POEMS and po- mal you can hardly afford to pass up the ems not previously awarded a money chance. Notice that many of the categories AUGUST — Poet’s Choice prize are eligible. A fee of one dollar are open-ended enough to accept almost any ($1.00) must accompany entry for each SEPTEMBER — Any Subject, Any Style type or style or subject. Look through that poem submitted. Send cash or make OCTOBER — Any Poem 24 Lines or Fewer checks to CFCP, Inc. DEADLINE is the collection you’ve been holding back and see last day of the contest month. Enve- if you have something to enter. NOVEMBER — Nature (any style) lope must be postmarked no later than Also, the membership year has moved into 12 midnight of that day. Print contest DECEMBER — no contest month on outside of mailing envelope. its third phase, meaning that new members can join for just $7.50! Please think in terms NOTE: In any month wherein insufficient entries are received, those poems which were submitted of making a copy and giving this handy form will be held over and judged with the entries for the following month. to an interested friend or acquaintance. It can be completed and returned (along with a 1st prize: $25.00 2nd prize: $15.00 3rd prize: $10.00 check) to your chapter treasurer, who will Poems will be returned only if a stamped, self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Allow one month after closing date then send it in to the state. of contest before sending poems elsewhere. Winning poems will be printed in the Chaparral Newsletter. Make a few copies of this page to carry with you and hand them to your friends and CALIFORNIA ➸ Pegasus Buchanan acquaintances. Leave a few copies at your FEDERATION mail contest Monthly Contest Editor, CFCP, Inc. OF CHAPARRAL entries to 1422 Ashland Avenue library or on the bulletin board at the local POETS, INC. college or university. let’s all recruit a few Claremont, CA 91711 new members. Get the word out!

✔ How to Become a Member I definitely want to be a member of the check the appropriate item: YES! Membership Annual/Renewal ...... $1500 California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. for the year 2004. New Member (February 1 to April 30) ...... $1200 New Member (May 1 to July 31) ...... $750 1 50 00 75 NAME Spouse ( ⁄2 regular member) ...... $7 , $6 , or $3 Junior (under 21; show proof of age)...... $300 Donation (specify amount) ...... ADDRESS I am interested in joining a Chapter in my area (name of Chapter) I wish to join as a Member-at-Large. CITY STATE ZIP We wish to form a Chapter of our own (5 or more PHONE ( ) FAX ( ) Regular Members are required to form a new Chapter) to be called E-MAIL Members-at-Large: Clip this form and mail along with a check or money order made payable to CFCP, Inc. to: Your membership includes all issues of the newsletter, Updrafts, free entry in the Annual Frances Yordan, Members-at-Large Chairman, 2575 W. San Contest, Monthly Contest information, and Membership Roster every 2 years during the Jose Avenue, Fresno, CA 93711-2733. membership period. All memberships renew between 8/1 and 12/31 yearly. Persons All Others: Send this form along with a check or money order joining between February 1 and July 31 will use the pro-rated formula. New memberships made payable to CFCP, Inc. to: received between August 1 and December 31 will be extended for the following full year. CFCP Treasurer, P.O. Box 806, Tujunga, CA 91043-0806. * Those who desire to continue membership with a chapter, please remit dues to your local chapter treasurer.

MAY 2004 PAGE 5 Copyright 2004 California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. Chaparral Updrafts, Volume 65, No. 4, May 2004. All rights reserved. Poets retain rights to their poems. Convention review Nominations for Poetry Landmarks now solicited continued from page two The Academy of American Poets is invit- landmarks. “Road Trip! Poetry Landmarks ing nominations from the public for poetry as a Classroom Technique by Anna Mae across the U.S.A.” will be showcased on the Johnson “Jonni” Terrell. Academy’s website, www.poets.org, during Whitman Award August 2004, as part of the Academy’s year- The Adult Contest Awards program fit continued from pageone long National Poetry Almanac project. nicely into the three-hour afternoon slot, since Clare College, Cambridge. Most recently, she it was again an eleven-category event. “We hope to have landmark nominations was a Wallece Stegner Fellow in Poetry at from all fifty states,” says the Academy’s ex- Banquet keynote speaker Dr. Timothy Steele, Stanford. She now works for the Djerassi ecutive director Tree Swenson. “We want to a professor at CSULA, and a poet with many Resident Artists Program in Woodside, Cali- recognize points on our country’s physical publications to his credit, is a leader in the New fornia, and lives near the beach in Pacifica. landscape that are also important to the cul- Formalist Movement. He shared a delightful se- Her poems have appeared or are forthcom- tural landscape.” Some of the landmarks al- ries of observations and anecdotes regarding his ing in The Atlantic Monthly, New England ready chosen for the National Poetry Alma- career, and afterward, stayed to autograph books Review, The New Republic, TriQuarterly, 32 nac include the Berkeley Poetry Walk (Ber- which had been for sale during the weekend. Poems, and the Quarterly Review. keley, CA), the American Poets’ Corner at C. Joy Haas presented the Beth Martin Haas Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, , in 1956 and raised in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New Award for excellence and service to poets to an Virginia. He received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary in 1978, his M.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in York, NY), and Frost Place (Franconia, NH). unsuspecting but deserving recipient: Norma 1980, and his M.F.A. from in 1982. His vol- Landmarks submitted for consideration King Green, chair of the Youth Contest. umes of poetry include: Middle Earth (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003), The Visible Man (1998), The Look of Things (1995), The Zoo Wheel may be located anywhere in the United States The Roadrunnerup Award was presented to of Knowledge (1989), and The Marble Queen (1986). Cole’s awards and should be physical sites that are impor- Jim Gibson for his poem entitled Hands, and and honors include the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the Berlin Prize tant to the history of American poetry. Ide- of the American Academy in Berlin, the Rome Prize in Literature the Golden Pegasus Award was presented to from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Amy Lowell ally, all landmarks will be open to the public Cleo Griffith for Early Morning Greyhound Bus. Poetry Traveling Scholarship. He is the recipient of fellowships from with free or low-cost admission. Nominations the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, the Ingram Merrill Foun- should include the landmark name, city, state, The local committee carried out the theme dation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. From 1982 until with table decorations emphasizing butterflies 1988 he was executive director of The Academy of American Po- and a brief description. Nominations will be in vertical vases at the Poets Luncheon, and ets. Since then he has held many teaching positions and been the accepted only by email and should be sent to artist-in-residence at various institutions, including Brandeis, Co- placing a different but related set of butter- lumbia, Harvard, and Yale Universities, and . Cole is [email protected]. The deadline for submis-

flies in vertical arrangements for the Banquet. currently poet-in-residence at . sions is midnight on June 30, 2004.

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