Atlas Poetica : International Blurbs

I am pleased to report that I am receiving translations of the short blurb for Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka. I have received Nederlands (Dutch), Deutsch (German), Español (Spanish), Română (Romanian), Hrvatski (Croatian), Magyar (Hungarian) and Finnish.


Nederlands     Modern English Tanka Press kondigt een nieuw tijdschrift aan. Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka richt zich tot een internationaal publiek en zal twee maal per jaar verschijnen. In het formaat 8.5" x 11" zal het tijdschrift tanka's, waka's, kyoka's en varianten daarvan presenteren, evenals sets en suites. Opgenomen wordt uitsluitend poetry of place: gedichten waarin landschappen of plaatsen een rol spelen.

Het uiterlijk landschap is met het innerlijk landschap van de mens verwoven. Atlas Poetica streeft ernaar, de diversiteit van het leven in de meest uiteenlopende omgevingen te tonen en zo een poëtische atlas van de tanka-wereld te vormen. Inzendingen in andere talen zijn zeer welkom, mits vergezeld van een Engelse vertaling. Zowel traditionele als innovatieve teksten kunnen in aanmerking komen voor publicatie.

De deadline voor het eerste nummer is 1 januari 2008. Raadpleeg voor gedetailleerde informatie http://www.AtlasPoetica.com.


Deutsch     Modern English Tanka Press kündigt das Erscheinen einer neuen Zeitschrift an. Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka wendet sich an eine internationale Leserschaft und wird halbjährlich erscheinen. Im Format 8.5" x 11" wird die Zeitschrift Tanka, Waka, Kyoka und deren Varianten sowie Serien und Sequenzen dieser Formen präsentieren. Aufgenommen wird ausschließlich poetry of place: Gedichte, in denen Landschaften oder Orte eine Rolle spielen.

Die äußere Umgebung ist mit der inneren Landschaft des Menschen verbunden. Atlas Poetica strebt an, die Diversität des Lebens in den unterschiedlichsten Umgebungen zu zeigen und so einen poetischen Atlas der Tanka-Welt zu gestalten. Einsendungen in anderen Sprachen sind sehr willkommen, sofern eine englische Übersetzung beiliegt. Sowohl traditionelle wie innovative Beiträge haben Aussicht auf Veröffentlichung.

Einsendeschluß für das erste Heft ist der 1. Januar 2008. Detaillierte Informationen bietet http://www.AtlasPoetica.com.


Español: Modern English Tanka [Editorial de Tanka en Inglés Moderno] tiene el placer de presentar su nuevo periodico, ATLAS POETICA: un periodico de la poesía de lugar a traves de Modern English Tanka.  La publicación de dos periodicos anualmente consistirá en una revista en formato 8.5" x 11" con tanka/waka/kyoka y sus variantes, además incluyirá sequencias y conjuntos de poemas que siguen esas formas tradiciónales japonesas.  Todos los poemas tratarán de lugar en general, de la importancía del paisaje, o del lugar cultural.

Atlas poetica está dirigido a encontrar poesía en la que hay una conneción entre el entorno externo y el interno, y que muestran la diversidad de la experiencá humana y natural.  Se puede entregar Tanka que siguen la forma tradiciónal, o que son inovadores.  Se puede presentar poemas en idiomas que no son inglés con tal de que tienen al lado una traduccíon al inglés.

La ultima fecha por entregar poemas será el 1 de enero 2008.  Para obtener más información, se puede visitar: www.AtlasPoetica.com


Română Modern English Tanka Press anunţă apariţia unei noi reviste. Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka se adresează unui public internaţional şi va avea o apariţie bianuală. Cu un format de 8.5" x 11" ea va prezenta tanka, waka, kyoka şi variante ale acestora, precum şi secvenţe de astfel de forme. Vor fi acceptate exclusiv lucrări care se încadrează în conceptul de poetry of place, poezii în care peisajele sau locurile specifice să joace un rol important.

Mediul exterior este legat de peisajul interior al omului. Atlas Poetica se străduieşte să evidenţieze diversitatea vieţii şi a circumstanţelor ei, alcătuind astfel un atlas al lumii tanka. Contribuţiile în alte limbi decât engleza sunt binevenite, dacă sunt însoţite de traducere. Se acceptă atât compoziţii tradiţionale, cât şi inovatoare.

Data limită de expediere este 1 ianuarie 2008. Informaţii detaliate se găsesc pe www.AtlasPoetica.com


Hrvatski Modern English Tanka Press najavljuje prvo izdanje novoga časopisa. Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka namenjen je međunarodnoj publici a izaći će dva puta godišnje. U obliku 8.5" x 11" časopis će predstaviti tanka, waka, kyoka i njihove variacije kao i serije i sekvencije ovih formi. Traži se iskljućivo poetry of place tj. pjesme u kojima predijela ili mijesta igraju posebnu ulogu.

Spojna okolina strogo je povezana unutrašnjim predijelom čovjeka. Atlas Poetica namijerava da pokazuje šarolikost života u najrazličitijim okolinama stvoreći na taj naćin pjesnićki atlas tanka-svijeta. Doprinosi koji nisu napisani na engleskom dobro su došli ukoliko imaju u prilogu prijevod.Prihvatitće se tradicijonalne kao i inovativne pjesme.

Krajni datum za slanje doprinosa je 1.sjećanj 2008. Opširnije informacije nalaze se na www.AtlasPoetica.com


Magyar Modern English Tanka Press egy új folyóirat megjelenését hirdeti meg. Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka nemzetközi olvasókórhez fordul és evente kétszer fog megjelenni. A 8.5" x 11" formatumú folyóirat tanka, waka, kyoka és ezeknek változatait valamint ezen formákból álló sorozatokat, szekvenciákat akar bemutatni. Kizárólag poetry of place fogadunk el, azaz olyan verseket, amelyekben egyes látványok vagy helyiségek szerepelnek.

A külső környezet az ember benső tájához szoros kapcsolatban áll. Atlas Poetica azzal törekszik, hogy az élét sokféleségét a legkülönbózöbb kórúlmények kózótt mutasson és így mintegy tanka-világ atlaszát állitson össze.

A nem angol nyelvű verseket szivesen fogadunk el, feltéve, hogy angol forditást melleklétként küldenek. Mint hagyományos, mit újîtó munkák elfogadhatók.

Az elküldési határidő: 2008, jánuár 1. Egyéb információkat a www.AtlasPoetica.com weboldalon olvashatnak.

Suomeksi Modern English Tanka Press on tyytyväinen ilmoittaessaan uuden aikakauslehtensä, ATLAS POETICA: Aikakauslehti Paikan Runoudelle Modernissa Englantilaisessa Tankassa. Aikakauslehti tulee julkaisemaan 8.5" x 11" formaatissa tanka/waka/kyoka-runoja ja sen variantteja, sekä runojoukkoja ja runoelmia kaksi kertaa vuodessa. Kaikki runot tulevat olemaan paikan runoutta, runoja joissa maisema tai kulttuurillinen paikka on merkittävässä asemassa.

Atlas Poetica tähtää runouteen jossa sisäinen ja ulkoinen ympäristö ovat yhteydessä, ja josta on nähtävissä luonnollisen ja inhimillisen kokemuksen monimuotoisuus. Tanka sekä traditionaalisessa että innovatiivisessa muodossa ovat tervetulleita, kuten myös submissionit muilla kielillä kuin englanniksi, kunhan niiden mukana lähetetään myös englanninkielinen käännös.

Ensimmäisen julkaisun deadline on: 1. tammikuuta 2008. Lisätietoja:

Ελληνικά: Ο σύγχρονος αγγλικός Τύπος Tanka είναι ευτυχής να αναγγείλει το νέο περιοδικό του, ΑΤΛΑΝΤΑΣ POETICA: Ένα περιοδικό της ποίησης της θέσης σε σύγχρονο αγγλικό Tanka. Το περιοδικό θα δημοσιεύσει ένα 8,5' Χ 11' tanka/waka/kyoka και των παραλλαγών του, καθώς επίσης και τα σύνολα και τις ακολουθίες δύο φορές ετησίως. Όλα τα ποιήματα θα είναι ποίηση της θέσης, ποίηση στην οποία το τοπίο ή η πολιτιστική θέση διαδραματίζει έναν ρόλο.

Ο άτλαντας Poetica στοχεύει στην ποίηση στην οποία τα εξωτερικά και εσωτερικά περιβάλλοντα συνδέονται, και που παρουσιάζει την ποικιλομορφία της φυσικής και ανθρώπινης εμπειρίας. Το Tanka και με παραδοσιακές και καινοτόμες μορφές είναι ευπρόσδεκτο, όπως είναι οι υποβολές στις γλώσσες εκτός από τα αγγλικά εφ' όσον συνοδεύονται από την αγγλική μετάφραση. Η προθεσμία για το πρώτο ζήτημα είναι: την 1η Ιανουαρίου 2008. Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες,επίσκεψη:


~K~

1000 Days Non-stop at Sea

Reid and Soanya in the schooner Anne are attempting to set a record: one thousand days at sea without stopping or resupply. They post photos and comments at their blog at: http://1000daysatsea.blogspot.com/

Amazing, beautiful, and awesome.

~K~

Landfall!

Denis Garrison, lead editor for Landfall : Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka is finally making his final selections. I was notified last night that he is taking nine tanka and a short sequence. Exciting! They have received over two thousand submissons for the book, so to be chosen at all is quite an honor. It's going to be a remarkable anthology, a landmark in English-language tanka.

Blurb: Heron Sea

Many thanks to Jim Doss, co-editor of the Loch Raven Review for providing the following blurb:

From the impassioned introduction to last poem, M. Kei has created a gem of a book that sparkles like the waters of the Chesapeake. These short poems paint a clear-eyed portrait of the bay from the point of view of someone who not only lives in the area but works on the water. As you read, it's impossible not to feel the spray of salt in your face, hear the flap of osprey wings in the air, see the silver gleaming of fish and the blue crawl of crabs below the surface. In both his nature and personal poems, Kei's hard-earned love and respect for life cuts through the fog of everyday living like the Thomas Point Lighthouse. A must for anyone residing in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Highly recommended.

--Jim Doss, Co-Editor of Loch Raven Review

Poetry of Place

I am a fan of poetry of place, and most of the tanka I write is poetry of place. I have always bucked the trend for 'universiality' in poetry in favor of specificacity and locality. 'Universal' is another way of saying 'generic' and it takes a rare gift to say something new and fresh. By contrast, local places, by virtue of being local, having rarely been tapped and their creative fount is still fresh and far from being exhausted. If we are all human, then we can, through the door of the poem, enter into our universal humanity and find it very different and very much the same.

From my own experience, I can relate to the experience of others. From my own experience, I can teach others. Above and beyond poetry, I apply this to daily life. I volunteer about a skipjack, one of the last vessels in North America to fish commercially under sail. I must translate the unknown into the known and in doing so create a sense of the specialness of both. Looking up at the sails, they are merely 'big,' when I tell them they are 1942 square feet of canvas, the number still doesn't register, and then I tell them, "Think about how big your own house is and then you have an idea of the size of these sails." Their eyes pop. Along with the recognition of size comes the recognition of work -- the women can usually imagine how much work it takes to clean and care for their house, and then they say, "It must be a lot of work to take care of this boat." Yes it is.

It matters, too. It is the special things that create a sense of place, and a sense of place is essential for a sense of belonging. To not belong is to be alienated and rootless, to have no investment. To belong is to feel a sense of ownership, guardianship, and care. To belong it to conserve. To be alienated is to reject. The places in which we live, work, play, and worship are not permanent and infinite, but limited, fragile, and perishable. They require care. People who don't care don't take care of them. 'Places' then are the places that we value.

If we are wise, we see the value in all places and revel in their uniqueness and seek to preserve it and develop it. If we aren't wise, we see only our own selfish gratification -- the perfect green lawn, and not the algae blooms in the water caused by the fertilizer runoff from our property. Altruism is not an option but a necessity. It may be altruistic to change our habits to improve our environment and support our communities -- but it shouldn't be. It should be normal. It is enlightenment self-preservation to make certain that the place in which we live will continue to be a viable place while we live there and while our children live there afterwards.

Poetry of place is a regional art. Like the local folk arts and customs, it grows out of a keen appreciation for the past but is not nostalgia. Nostalgia is looking back and lamenting what is lost, dreaming about an imaginary past in which the cares of the world were escaped. Regionalism is not nostalgic but futuristic. It takes the customs of the past and projects them into the future, recognizes the potential for loss, and realizes the value of the past in mitigating the evils of rootlessness, abandonment, and decay. Poetry is the nutrition that keeps the heart rooted, engaged, and fertile.

There has been a rising interest in poetry of place concurrent with a rising awareness and appreciation by city planners, politicians, and concerned citizens who realize that a sense of place is a powerful antidote to the ills of modern society. Some developers are now seeking to identify and preserve that which is unique and valued, to protect and enhance such local uniqueness and value, and to contribute something of their own that truly 'develops' the locality instead of merely exploiting it. Unfortunately, there are not yet many examples of this, and while any step in this direction is to be appreciated, purely cosmetic steps are not enough.

There has been a similar direction in modern American poetry. Not surprisingly, since poetry reflects the lives of the people who write it, American poetry has become as rootless and alien as the malls and McMansions that blight the American landscape. Once upon a time poetry was something that all people shared and enjoyed, now it is the province of ivory tower academics or alienated young people screaming out profanity laden rap lyrics. While each sort of poetry is an authentic expression of the people who write it and the places in which they live, it does not speak to or for the average person. The average person no longer sees poetry as relevant and if very likely to cringe in dread when they discover someone they know is poet, justly fearing that the amateur is going to want to inflict bad verse upon them.

Yet rap is a sort of poetry of place: it directly and powerfully expresses urban poverty and the human customs and experiences in that environment. My students value it precisely because they believe it tells the truth about their lives -- and that is the duty of poetry: to tell us the truth we know about ourselves. If rap music is frightening to the average person, so is the environment in which it was born, where young men are more likely to die of murder than any other cause. Rappers have discovered the power of poetry: to speak in the ordinary idiom of the people from which they come and use it to name the joy and despair of their people. It is not an accident that rappers speak of 'the hood' and 'my people' against all others; they do not merely live in their neighborhood, but dwell in it, and that place is as deep in them as they are in it. For those who deplore rap, ask another question... what would those places be like without it? What silent despair would rule where now there is vibrant, embattled life? To be without poetry is to abide in the graveyard of the heart, silent as tombstones, our epitaphs our only communication.

The average American has gone so long without poetry that they don't know they're missing it. Sadly, when it is practiced, it is dumbed down. Children are taught that poetry is self-expression and that anything they want to write in stanza form is poetry. No. Poetry is NOT self-expression, it is literature, and there are standards that apply. While any topic and treatment is acceptable in poetry, that does not mean that all acts of expression are equally artistic. If it is pure self-expression, it is a journal entry and ought not be inflicted on others. No, in order to be poetry, it must speak 'to' something, as well as 'about' something. While the self has long been a topic for poets, it cannot be the only topic. Purely self-centered poetry is a kind of sophistry, the ultimate in alienation, and thus, the very opposite of what poetry truly is.

Poetry is nothing more or less than the manifestation of a spirit in the material world. So are all the arts. To worship the madness of creativity is to divorce ourselves from the spirit, building a great wall between ourselves and spirituality, a wall which can only be pierced by an act of self- mutilation, for the wall exists within ourselves and nowhere else. How much better to never build the wall to begin with! Let us tear down the false idea that a poet is something outside of the ordinary and that poetry is set apart from real life, and instead open our seven senses to fully experience our own lives. Then, if we choose, we can undertake the apprenticeship of words necessary to write it down.

~K~

Atlas Poetica : Call for Submissions

Call for Submissions — August 4, 2007

ATLAS POETICA:
A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka

Issue 1, 2008


Modern English Tanka Press is pleased to announce its new journal, ATLAS POETICA: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka. In light of the overwhelming response of poets to the anthology, Landfall: Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka (due out later this year), Modern English Tanka Press has decided to publish a biannual journal devoted exclusively to the subject of poetry of place in modern English tanka. To be printed in an 8.5" x 11" format, the new journal will publish single tanka/waka/kyoka and its variants, as well as sets and sequences. The first issue is scheduled to come out in the Spring of 2008. The deadline for submissions is 1 January 2008 for the premiere issue, Atlas Poetica 1.

Atlas Poetica will be edited by M. Kei, who edited the anthology, Fire Pearls: Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart, and will showcase previously unpublished tanka in English and English translation from around the world. The Atlas welcomes individual tanka and sets and sequences that are deeply steeped in the human and natural landscape, reflecting the particularities of life as it is lived in all its splendid interconnections. Atlas Poetica believes that diversity, locality, tradition, innovation, and a keen sense of the awareness of the web that binds the internal and external environments together is the essence from which poetry springs. It is by connecting with this place, this moment, and these experiences of life that we achieve deep insight and appreciation for ourselves, our neighbors, and our world. “Sense of place is not just something that people know and feel, it is something people do.”—Albert Camus

Before submitting poetry, please carefully read the complete guidelines which are available at www.atlaspoetica/submit.html along with information regarding rights sought, schedules, deadlines, and more. Submissions and inquiries may be sent to the editor at: submissions (at) AtlasPoetica (dot) com.

For further information contact:
M. Kei, Editor, Atlas Poetica
AtlasPoetica (at) gmail (dot) com
or visit: AtlasPoetica.com

Please share widely and forward to all appropriate forums.

M. Kei
Editor, Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka
AtlasPoetica.com

Denis M. Garrison
Publisher
ModernEnglishTankaPress.com