I have a piece on 32 Poem's blog, in their Contributor's Margonalia section. Take a look:
http://www.32poems.com/32-poems-blogroll
rickbursky.com
I re-worked my website and moved it to squarespace.com. It's not completely finished but it is up. Take a look if you get a chance.
rickbursky.com
rickbursky.com
I'm sure you're dying to see this.
Just what the world needs, advice from me.
https://www.youtube.com/user/WritersProgram
Reading in June!
I’m No Longer Troubled By The Extravagance on BOA website
More blatant self-promotion. My new book, I’m No Longer Troubled By The Extravagance, is available for pre-order on BOA’s website.
Take a look: https://www.boaeditions.org/bookstore/im-no-longer-troubled-by-the-extravagance.html
Take a look: https://www.boaeditions.org/bookstore/im-no-longer-troubled-by-the-extravagance.html
Wish I Wrote It
Every now and then I come across a line I wish I wrote, this line by GC Waldrep is one of them. Found it in a BOA Editions tweet. I have a couple of her books, gonna go back to read them.
"Grief is a little church we don't remember / joining..."
ps
Actually, I often come across lines of poetry I wish I wrote. I read a lot of wonderful poetry.
"Grief is a little church we don't remember / joining..."
ps
Actually, I often come across lines of poetry I wish I wrote. I read a lot of wonderful poetry.
World Poetry Day
Today is World Poetry Day
Today we celebrate World Poetry Day. “To me, poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment” ― Galway Kinnell
Today we celebrate World Poetry Day. “To me, poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment” ― Galway Kinnell
My UCLA Extension Intermediate Poetry Workshop Starts Jan. 21st
My UCLA Extension Intermediate Poetry Workshop Starts Jan. 21st. There are still a few open spots. Hope to see you there.
Intermediate Poetry Workshop
For those with some previous training in poetry, this workshop focuses on creating work which emphasizes lyrical and innovative language, personal insight, and individual voice. In addition, you refine your knowledge of a number of the craft's formal elements, including structure, imagery, metaphor, and pace, in order to stretch the boundaries of your creative experience. The goal is to produce a small body of work which is ambitious and resonant.
Intermediate Poetry Workshop
For those with some previous training in poetry, this workshop focuses on creating work which emphasizes lyrical and innovative language, personal insight, and individual voice. In addition, you refine your knowledge of a number of the craft's formal elements, including structure, imagery, metaphor, and pace, in order to stretch the boundaries of your creative experience. The goal is to produce a small body of work which is ambitious and resonant.
Poetry Reading
I'm reading at Beyond Baroque in the Mike Kelley Gallery on Dec. 12, 8pm, with three other wonderful poets –– Shivani Mehta,
Richard Garcia & Katherine Williams. It'll be wonderful, at least they'll be wonderful, I'll be okay. Hope you can make it.
Online Poetry Class Begins Next Week
I'm teaching an online poetry class for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program.
Here's the info:
Creative Writing: Poetry
XL 136 English 5 units c
Available for UCLA transferable credit, this workshop combines writing assignments with an exploration of contemporary poetry. You look at forms ranging from the sonnet to prose poems, and develop your own voice. Each week the work of a contemporary poet is discussed and writing assignments are critiqued. The course goal is to finish with a number of polished and completed poems and understand the demands and rewards of living an inspired life through poetry. For technical requirements see page 4. Enrollment limited to 15 students.
Reg# 249985CA
Here's the info:
Creative Writing: Poetry
XL 136 English 5 units c
Available for UCLA transferable credit, this workshop combines writing assignments with an exploration of contemporary poetry. You look at forms ranging from the sonnet to prose poems, and develop your own voice. Each week the work of a contemporary poet is discussed and writing assignments are critiqued. The course goal is to finish with a number of polished and completed poems and understand the demands and rewards of living an inspired life through poetry. For technical requirements see page 4. Enrollment limited to 15 students.
Reg# 249985CA
Poems from The Sounthern Review
The Southern Review put two of my poems on Soundcloud.
Unfortunately, it's me doing the reading: https://soundcloud.com/lsupress_and_tsr/we-and-the-accordion-players …
SoundCloud
New Book Coming Out
My next book, I'm No Longer Troubled By the Extravagance, will be published by BOA next year!
Prose Poem workshop filled up!
My one day prose poem workshop at UCLA Extension, 2/1/14, is now filled. It's gonna be fun. I'll be teaching an online class for them in the spring. Hope some of you are interested. You can be in Moscow, Russia, or Rhode Island and take the class!
ADVICE
"Any fool can take a bad line out of a poem; it takes a real pro to throw out a good line."
THEODORE ROETHKE
Prose Poem Workshop Coming Up!
I'm teaching my annual one day prose poem workshop on Feb 1st. Not only will you learn lots about the prose poem but it's entertaining and we'll write some prose poems in class.
Here's the link: https://www.uclaextension.edu/pages/Course.aspx?reg=Z7262&qe=true
I hope to see you there.
Rick
Oh, this was one of the prose poems written in last year's workshop.
Here's the link: https://www.uclaextension.edu/pages/Course.aspx?reg=Z7262&qe=true
I hope to see you there.
Rick
Oh, this was one of the prose poems written in last year's workshop.
The
Legerdemain
Door-to-door sales is a tradition in my
family. My mother bought me from a door-to-door salesman when I was five weeks
old. I’ve sold everything door-to-door – from silverware to poison, drank Hemlock
three times as a demonstration. Slowly closing the eyes is an effective sales
tool. I was thirty-six when I sold my first tulip, a Red Emperor to a man on
his way to a funeral, stopped him in his driveway. He held the tulip and
sobbed. Selling tulips is selling desire. Other flower salesmen sell clichés.
The tulip is a nightmare rehabilitated, closer to a human heart than a rose. Tulips
are the ears of the dead. My work has hardened my knuckles. At the end of the
day I sit in my car and watch the sun set in the rearview mirror. The Monte Flame
is my favorite tulip, the way its orange and red petals cup every dirty secret
you’ve ever told.
Intermediate Poetry Workshop
I'm going to be teaching an Intermediate Poetry Workshop at UCLA Extension beginning July 3rd.
Here's the link: Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Here's a description of the workshop: For those with some previous training in poetry, this workshop focuses on creating work which emphasizes lyrical and innovative language, personal insight, and individual voice. In addition, you refine your knowledge of a number of the craft's formal elements, including structure, imagery, metaphor, and pace, in order to stretch the boundaries of your creative experience. The goal is to produce work which is ambitious and resonant.
Here's the link: Intermediate Poetry Workshop
Here's a description of the workshop: For those with some previous training in poetry, this workshop focuses on creating work which emphasizes lyrical and innovative language, personal insight, and individual voice. In addition, you refine your knowledge of a number of the craft's formal elements, including structure, imagery, metaphor, and pace, in order to stretch the boundaries of your creative experience. The goal is to produce work which is ambitious and resonant.
Shivani Mehta publishes her first book.
Congratulations to Shivani Mehta. Her book "Useful Information for the Soon-to-be-Beheaded" will be in just a few weeks, in time for AWP. Read the about it here.
One day prose poem workshop this Saturday
This Saturday, Oct 20th, I'm teaching a one day prose poem workshop
for UCLA Extension. It's not too late to enroll. It'll be fun. Hope to
see you there.
Here's the class description:
Writing that Fine Line: A Prose Poem 1-Day Workshop
What's the difference between the prose poem and a piece of short fiction? When should the poetic line give way to the poetic sentence? These are just some of the questions that are answered in this workshop on the prose poem. Other topics include imagery, metaphor, repetition, rhyme (yes, there could be rhyme in a prose poem), surrealism, and prose poem as fable. These give you a new understanding of the prose poem and a toolkit to draw upon for continued writing. Throughout the day, you put your new insights into action as you receive writing prompts from which to write your own prose poems in class. Practitioners of the art are discussed: Charles Baudelaire, Charles Simic, Nin Andrews, Pierre Reverdy, Peter Johnson, and Russell Edson, to name a few. You also receive a bibliography of prose poem books to guide your continued engagement in the form.
Here's the class description:
Writing that Fine Line: A Prose Poem 1-Day Workshop
What's the difference between the prose poem and a piece of short fiction? When should the poetic line give way to the poetic sentence? These are just some of the questions that are answered in this workshop on the prose poem. Other topics include imagery, metaphor, repetition, rhyme (yes, there could be rhyme in a prose poem), surrealism, and prose poem as fable. These give you a new understanding of the prose poem and a toolkit to draw upon for continued writing. Throughout the day, you put your new insights into action as you receive writing prompts from which to write your own prose poems in class. Practitioners of the art are discussed: Charles Baudelaire, Charles Simic, Nin Andrews, Pierre Reverdy, Peter Johnson, and Russell Edson, to name a few. You also receive a bibliography of prose poem books to guide your continued engagement in the form.
The Southern Review
I have two poems in the current new issue of The Southern Review. They're also putting up a recording of me reading the poems on their Audio Gallery. Take listen if you have a minute, just click here.