Leaves of Bark

Graves of Poets Videos Online

The Dead Poets Video Project has officially begun, with the posting of forty-three (43) videos of readings and adventures from the gravesites of famous American poets. Journey to the graves of Elizabeth Bishop, James Dickey, Gwendolyn Brooks, Theodore Roethke, Henry Timrod, Robert Penn Warren, Carl Sandburg, and many more.

Paul Lawrence Dunbar at Library of Congress

The Poetry Foundation's very cool "Washington DC Poetry Tour" reveals that Paul Lawrence Dunbar worked in the stacks at the Library of Congress and was the 1st poet - black or white -- to give a public reading at the LOC. (As a side note, the PF says Dunbar hated the job down in the stacks)

Jorge Leon Martinez : Mexico

Mtro. Jorge León Martínez is a poet who is the Dirección de Proyectos y Vinculación-SIE at the Coordinación de Universidad Abierta y Educación a Distancia, in Mexico.

I have not been sent any links to his poetry, but the mission of CUAED is:

Promueve la innovación educativa en las escuelas y facultades de la UNAM al aprovechar los beneficios de las tecnologías digitales; fomentar la inclusión de grupos vulnerables en programas educativos pertinentes y de calidad e impulsar la investigación interdisciplinaria con énfasis en sistemas y ambientes educativos, además de propiciar la formación de recursos humanos de excelencia para atender las demandas de la sociedad contemporánea.

Steven Riel : Poet-Librarian at Harvard

A few months ago I posted a short note about Steven Riel. Now through the gravepine he has heard of Leaves of Bark and has send us all more information.

Steven has a website at www.stevenriel.com, where we have linked to one of his poems, "Deathwatch".

Steven has an MFA in Poetry and works at Harvard University in the Harvard College Library.  Here's the link to his work directory listing: http://hcl.harvard.edu/technicalservices/about/staff.directory.html

Ana Rosa Nunez : Cuba (1926 - 1999)

``Without Ana Rosa, the Cuban collection of the University of Miami Library would not be what it is: the best Cuban library outside Cuba,'' said Esperanza Bravo de Varona, the collection's coordinator. ``Not only the exile community but also the Cuba of the future owe her a debt of gratitude for her tenacious and fruitful labor.''

That was written in the obituary for Nunez, in the El Nuevo Herald, August 5, 1999.

The obituary added: "Nunez, born in Havana on July 11, 1926, graduated from the School of Philosophy and Humanities and the School of Library Sciences at the University of Havana. She left Cuba in 1965.

 Her work, which began in Cuba with A Day in Verse 59  and Gabriela Mistral: A Hurtful Love, continued in Miami. Her copious bibliography includes The Seven Moons of January, Praise to the Royal Palm, A Trip to Cazabe, Caribbean Scales, The Twelfth Hour and Chrysanthemums.

Nunez worked as a reference librarian and bibliographer at the University of Miami's Otto G. Richter Library. Together with Rosa Abella, she was a pioneer in the collection of Cuban documentation."

 

2 Additional Living Scottish Bards

Staff at the Scottish Poetry Library have sent word of two more living Scottish bards. They are: A.B. Jackson and Richard Price. Jackson was "Born in Glasgow in 1965, and grew up in Bramhall, Cheshire, before moving to Cupar in Fife and attending Bell Baxter High School. He studied English Literature at Edinburgh University, and is currently Senior Information Manager at NHS Education for Scotland.

His first book, Fire Stations, was published by Anvil in 2003 and was awarded the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A poem, "The Chemical Wedding" is online.

Richard Price was born in 1966 and grew up in Renfrewshire. He was educated at Napier College and the University of Strathclyde, where his doctoral thesis was on the novels and plays of Neil M. Gunn. He is the Head of Modern British Collections at the British Library.

Founder editor (with Raymond Friel) of Southfields and the current magazine Painted, spoken, he is a poet associated with the 1990s grouping of poets the Informationists, including W. N. Herbert, David Kinloch, Peter McCarey and Alan Riach. He is also a member of the London-based Poetry Workshop.

His publications include Marks & Sparks (Akros, 1995), Perfume & petrol fumes (Diehard, 1999), Frosted, melted (Diehard, 2002), and Lucky Day

Lisa Forrest : Buffalo, NY

Lisa A. Forrest is a Senior Assistant Librarian for SUNY College at Buffalo and the founding member of the school's Rooftop Poetry Club. A 2007 and 2008 Pushcart Prize nominee, Lisa's creative writing has been featured in eco-poetics, foursquare, Lake Affect, Yellow Edenwald Field and many other small press publications.  She is the recipient of the national Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRINDI) Award, June 2009 for her radio commentary And So This is Christmas, which aired December 2008 on WBFO, Buffalo’s local NPR station.

Lisa's first collection of poems, To the Eaves (2008), is available from BlazeVox Books, and you can hear an interview with her on the Joe Milford Poetry Show Interview.

With Lisa, that makes two from Buffalo.

Celia White : Poetic Light

If you shuffle over to Buffalo you might discover Celia White, a poet and librarian. After many chapbooks came out, her book Letter was published in 2007 by Ambient Press. She has an occasionally updated blog, called Warm Wine, at http://celiathepoet.blogspot.com/ and a Flickr photograph collection.

Looks like she makes a wicked good pizza.

*In Maine, the term wicked good means something really, really good or cool. I have heard it said that the phrase comes from a certain part of England, from whence settlers first came to the Maine coast.

Aline Soules: Librarian who loves poetry

Aline Soules works by day as a mild-mannered librarian at Cal State, East Bay, but by night she is... better let her finish this, I could already be in trouble for saying mild-mannered.

From the extensive list of courses, poems, and publications one can gather that she loves reading and writing poetry.

Nancy Kuhl : Curator of Poetry for the Yale Collection of American Literature

Nancy Kuhl has my kind of dream job: Curator of Poetry for the Yale Collection of American Literature. 

There is more about her poetry and work at the Phylum Press website, where she is co-founder and co-editor.

Online Projects:

Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities:
http://brblroom26.wordpress.com/

Poetry at Beinecke Library:
http://beineckepoetry.wordpress.com/

African American Studies at Beinecke Library:
http://beineckejwj.wordpress.com/

Jeff Beam : Award-Winning Carolinian P/L

Librarian and Poet Jeff Beam, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has posted a long, valuable list of the many books of poetry that he has had published. If you follow the link and see all the awards he has won, one wonders (how's that for alliteration?) just when he has time for library work!

In 2009 his poem, "Song of the University Worker", was designated the official staff poem of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Marek Sekyra: Poet-Librarian in The Czech Republic

Marek Sekyra works as librarian in Liberec, Czech Republic.

He has published one book of poetry in 2007 (Modré hodiny – Blue hours) and one bilingual book in cooperation with Mr. Otokar Simm with his translations of German prewar poets from Liberec (Ještědské květy/Jeschkenblumen = The flowers from Ještěd hill).