Dead Poets Society of America

Grave of William Daniel, Great Assyrian Poet (San Jose, CA)

"The great Assyrian poet, composer and orator. Born: March 17, 1903 Died Dec. 18, 1988" (Found at Flickr here) He wrote an epic poem called Qateeni Gabbara that is being made into an opera

www.obieyadgar.com/blogs/obie/qateeni-gabbara-assyrian-op...

The Papers of Romon Guthrie (at Dartmouth)

Hopefully tracking down his grave this summer. Here a short description of his papers at Dartmouth:

The papers of Ramon Guthrie, poet, teacher, writer and artist, received from Mr. Guthrie and his literary executor Alexander Laing, are housed in 13 boxes and 1 portfolio or 7 linear shelf feet. These papers covering the years 1919-1973 consist primarily of correspondence and poetry, writings, and sketches. However, there are some financial records, personal data, information concerning his Dartmouth College teaching career, reviews by and aobut R.G. and photographs.

Celebrating Nanao Sakaki

My friend, the poet and bookstore owner, Gary Lawless, just gave me a copy of the new book on Sakaki, the wandering poet of Japan.

From San Fran Weekly blog: It's said that Nanao Sakaki made a practice of never sleeping in the same place twice. The Japanese poet worked many jobs, sometimes living off the generosity of neighbors while studying English and reading. He became interested in primitive art, and his visits to forests all over Japan inspired him to start writing poems. When he co-translated his book Bellyfulls into English in 1961, Sakaki became friends with Beat poet Gary Snyder, who sought him out after having been given the book in India. Sakaki was also founder and lead personality of the Tribe, a loose-knit countercultural group in Japan in the '60s and '70s that, among other things, built and inhabited the Banyan Ashram on tiny Suwanosejima, one of the Ryukyu Islands (and one of Japan's most active volcanoes). He spent nearly 10 years in the U.S., mostly in San Francisco but also wandering by foot. A pivotal nexus between Buddhism and the Beat movement, the publication of Sakaki's first collection of poems will be celebrated with tributes and performances by major writers Snyder, Michael McClure, Joanne Kyger, and Gary Lawless, along with author and Heydey Books guru Malcolm M

Taylor Mead Joins Buddy Beats

Dead Beat Daddy #1

Tombstone Art, by Walter Skold a.k.a. the Dead Poet Guy

Another Dead Beat: Taylor Mead, 88

From Harriet, via NYT: Taylor Mead: Now a Dead Beat

A force within the Beat movements in both San Francisco and New York, he began writing and performing his particular brand of raunchy, irreverent, and often hilarious poetry in the early 1950s. He made his first film, The Flower Thief, in 1960 with San Francisco underground filmmaker Ron Rice. Inspired by Robert Frank’s 1959 Beat classic Pull My Daisy, which was narrated by Jack Kerouac and featured poets Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, and Peter Orlovsky, The Flower Thief follows the sprightly Mead as he wanders through the oceanfront arcades and smoke-filled poetry cafes of bohemian San Francisco. Breaking down the boundary between art and life with its impressionistic, improvised style, the film has been hailed by film theorist P. Adams Sitney as “the purest expression of the Beat sensibility in cinema.”

Poet Joaquin Miller's Last Wishes...not followed

Contra Costa Times reports on Joaquin Miller and his funeral "plans" : "As if in applause at the honor of being done their master the winds of the Hights stirred from over the distant hills, caught the ashes from the flames and bore them to their hundred and one resting places over the Hights," the Call reported.

He made the front page of almost every newspaper in the country when he died Feb. 17, 1913. The San Francisco Call reported, "The world is in mourning today for the last of the immortal California trio -- Bret Harte, Mark Twain and Joaquin Miller, said by Lord (Alfred) Tennyson to be the greatest poet this country ever produced."

It was Miller's wish to be cremated on the funeral pyre he built at the Hights on a knoll behind his home. He wanted his ashes to be scattered among the trees he had planted, but his wish could not be carried out because of city ordinances. Instead, the poet was cremated at the Oakland Crematory, with a modest funeral limited to family and a few friends held a few days later.

Then on May 25, 1913, members of the Bohemian Club orchestrated a memorial service at the Hights, with 500 people in attendance. Miller's ashes were scattered in a fire built on his pyre.

Emanuel Litvinof: The Poet who called out T.S. Eliot's anti-Semitism

Emanuel Litvinof : from Haaretz "May 5, 1915 is the birthdate of Emanuel Litvinoff, an English-Jewish poet and writer who defended the Jews again and again throughout his long career. Most famously, Litvinoff is remembered for an evening in 1951 when he read publicly a new poem harshly criticizing T.S. Eliot for the anti-Semitism evident in his poetry – in the presence of Eliot himself."

Great Article Highlights National Dead Poets Project!

Yes! A Great front page article today that highlights the Dead Poets Society of America, and the search for poet's graves. You can Download Appreciating poets — past and present | www.timesrecord.com | The Times Record.pdf (462.4K)

Dead Poet Guy Announces 15 Top Poets' Graves

Immediate Release: April 17 -- Freeport, Maine: After visiting 250 poet's graves, the Dead Poet Guy has released the long-awaited list of top 15 poets' graves in the USA.

"National Poetry Month is a great time to make a literary pilgrimage to a poet’s grave,” says Walter Skold, “And these really are the best examples of how moving, exquisite and fascinating many poet’s graves are.”

Literary fans can view a great photo collection of the 15 gravesites, along with descriptions of what makes them so unique and important (Read Full Press Release)

The Place of Honor: @ the grave of Paul Laurence Dunbar

Join us by video for this travelogue edition of "Grave-hopping with the Dead Poet Guy", as we see how Dunbar's body was moved from his first grave to the highest place of honor: yet another example of how poets often posthumously claim the highest place of honor.

 

The Place of Honor: The Grave of Paul Laurence Dunbar from Walter Skold on Vimeo.

#259 Daniel Hoffman : US Laureate & Friend

I love this picture of my friend Daniel Hoffman, standing at his wife's grave and next to his own. Now, sadly, he is silent, except for the words of his poems and the memories that live inside those who knew him.

#258 at Hart Crane's Cenotaph

March 29th, 2013. At Hart Crane's Cenotaph for sunset on Good Friday.

"Towns Become Jewels" by the grave of Tennessee

"Towns Become Jewels" Tennessee Williams poem at his grave from Walter Skold on Vimeo.

#257 Tennessee Williams in Winter

March 25th, 2013. In Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, the next cemetery over from Sara Teasdale and William Burroughs.

Multi-awarded poet and art critic Cuadra, 74, dies of pneumonia

Multi-awarded poet and art critic Cuadra, 74, dies of pneumonia

By Filipina Lippi

Published: May 1, 2013

Poet and art critic Jolico Cuadra, 74, died April 30 at Pamana Medical Center in Halang, Calamba where he was admitted for pneumonia for a week.

 

Cuadra, also known as Juan Jose Jolicco and A.Z. Jolicco, was already bedridden after suffering a stroke in early April. It exacerbated his Parkinson’s disease, which struck him in 2009.

 

Cuadra was a romantic figure in his younger days in the 60s, and was one of the few Filipino poets with arresting presence. Colleagues alternately called him Apollo and Greek god for his good looks, curly tops, and beautiful body accented by tight outfit. Because of his rebel without a cause mien, at the time, he was likened to British romantic poet Lord Byron.

 

Even before he became a dedicated poet, his reputation as a legendary figure preceded him among artists and classmates at the Ateneo University and the University of the East, and among friends at the University of the Philippines.

 

Adding to his mystique were years he spent at  art schools in Barcelona, Spain; and Ecole des Beaux Art and Académie de la Grande Chaumièr in Paris.

 

Cuadra hit the literary limelight when he wrote a lyrical poem Dogstar at 23 in 1962. The poem has been anthologized in volumes of books on Philippine contemporary poetry.

 

A multi-awarded poet, Cuadra was Carlos Palanca Memorial Award’s second prize winner in poetry for his Dogging Years in 1978; a  South East Asia Write (Seawrite) winner for his Poems of Poison Pawn in 1979; and Cultural Center’s honorable mention in literature for his Possibilitarian Poems in 1983. With his citations in poetry, critics believe that he has surpassed his great influence, the late and New York-based Jose Garcia Villa, who popularized comma poems, a major benchmark in Philippine contemporary poetry.

W.Va. Poet Laureate reflects on writing

"As far back as I can remember I see my dad sitting in one chair with a big pile of books by his side and my mother in the other chair with a big pile of books by her side and myself sitting in the middle of the big braided rug with a big pile of picture books. I was a very lucky little boy."

In news article, W.Va. poet laureate reflects on writing

Links to Great Native American Poets

Thankfully, most, if not all, of these are still living. Native American poets from tribes across the land. Then again, are dead poets really dead, though taken from the land of the living? (Great job, Poetry Foundation, for putting forth these poets of our first nations)

Grave #256: Pitcher/Poet Daniel Quisenberry

Visited the grave of Major League Pitcher and minor league poet, Daniel Quisenberry this week, in Kansas City, MO.

  

Dead Henry Timrod: Back in Bob

Tombstone Art Collection. (c) Walter Skold

Posted February, 21, 2013. Taken at the grave of Henry Timrod, Columbia SC.

Dead Poets Grand Western States Tour 2013

(Details forthcoming in April...so get ready to hop on the Dead Poet's Train with Dedgar the Poemobile and the Dead Poet Guy).