Poetry has for centuries been an essential element in Persian public culture, and poems are flying out to the rest of the world from the present-day uproar in Iran.

from Weekend Edition, National Public Radio:
“Poetry From Iran, One Tweet at a Time,” by Davar Iran Ardalan
“Persians are known for their poetry. So it is not surprising that as recent dramatic events have unfolded in Iran, so many Iranians who have been alerting the world have written poetically — even in their tweets.” The story is accompanied by a selection of tweets from Iranian engineering student and Web developer Parham Baghestani, translated by NPR staff.

from The Two-Way, National Public Radio’s news blog:
“Poet Simin Behbahani: Neda Is ‘Voice Of The People Of Iran’,” by Mark Memmott
“Simin Behbahani, a poet known as the lioness of Iran and for championing women’s rights, has a message for the men and women of her nation: ‘Don’t give up the fight for freedom.’” In a phone interview with NPR from Tehran, Behbahani recites two poems she has recently written about current events in Iran, “Stop Throwing My Country To The Wind,” addressed to her country’s government, and “For Neda Agha-Soltan,” addressed to the young woman who was killed during the protests on June 20 after the Iranian election. English translations of both poems are included in the NPR posting.

More about Persian poetry:
“Poetry connecting civilizations in conflict” (Coleman Barks, Rumi & Iran, 2006)
Ghazals

Congratulations are due to Forum poet Bernard Hamel, whose first poem entered in the InterBoard Poetry Competition was selected by judge Duncan Mercredi for honorable mention in June. The other winners Mercredi chose were

• In first place, “you think you’ve seen everything,” by Justin Hyde, a barroom scene “with a surprise ‘twist’ at the end.”
• In second place, “Castle Hawk” by Brian Edwards, a memoir of “two brothers in tee-shirts, / waiting for something to happen.”
• In third place, “5 o’clock” by Divina, a word painting that illustrates Mercredi’s belief that “poets are deep down, frustrated visual artists.”

More on the IBPC:
General information
Requirements for IBPC nominees
Anthology of the monthly IBPC winning poems
Archive of poems entered in the IBPC from our Poetry Forum

Robert Frost was a philosopher of American life, many of his poems are parables set in timeless rural scenes, and his most memorable lines quite naturally come to mind at ceremonial turning points in Americans’ lives. This week, marking Justice David Souter’s retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts quoted from Frost’s “ Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” in the justices’ farewell letter: “We understand your desire to trade white marble for White Mountains, and return to your land ‘of easy wind and downy flake.’” And in his reply, Souter quoted from Frost’s great Depression-era poem about work and vocation, “Two Tramps in Mud Time”: “You quoted the Poet, and I will, too, in words that set out the ideal of the life engaged, ‘...where love and need are one...’”

from The Christian Science Monitor:
“After 19 years, Souter and the Supreme Court part, with poetry,” by Warren Richey
“As the New Englander retires, he and Chief Justice John Roberts exchange warm letters of farewell — and a few verses of Robert Frost.... The poet Robert Frost speaks to life-long New Englanders like David Souter in ways other poets cannot.”

More on Robert Frost:
Profile of Robert Frost, American farmer/philosopher poet
Library of Poems by Robert Frost
The “Tricky” Poem, study guide to “The Road Not Taken”
Robert Frost Talks About Poetry
A Robert Frost poem handwritten & hidden away: “War Thoughts at Home”
Frost’s Homer Noble Farm Treated Most Ignobly
Poetical punishment for the Frost farm vandals

Have you ever played Exquisite Corpse, the collaborative surrealist art game, with lines of poetry? I’ve done it with 3 to as many as 7 people, each writing a single phrase or line, then folding down the paper and passing it to the next person, who adds another line, etc. You can ensure linkage in the sequence of lines by writing the last word or two below your line, then folding the paper so that the end of your contribution is visible to the next writer (just as you would extend the lines of your drawing a little over the edge when playing Exquisite Corpse as a surrealist drawing game) — or you can agree in advance on a theme or kernel word to have in mind as you write your lines. When your papers are full, have one of the poets read the entire piece aloud — the resulting collage poem is an interesting window into the unconscious connections in the group.

Nils Peterson, the local poet laureate in Santa Clara County, California, has adopted a similar method to come up with a collaborative poem celebrating life in Silicon Valley:

from Silicon Valley Mercury News:
“First official Santa Clara County poem,” by Karen D’Souza
(The news story is accompanied by an audio file of Peterson reading the poem.) “...he invited the community to help write the first official county poem, a vivid snapshot of life in the valley.... About 500 county residents submitted phrases that Peterson sculpted into an epic word collage that mashes up 100 lines from 100 authors, ages 11 to 80. In the manner of a Tweet, each line had to be short and sweet (from nine to 13 syllables long). Accessibility is the key to this collective opus.”

It’s not really a cento, because the quoted lines are not from other poems, nor is it really like an exquisite corpse poem, because the connections between lines are consciously crafted by a single poet who assembled the poem. Interesting. A new form altogether?

Last week we took note of the found poem growing out of Twitter. This week there’s a report that in Detroit, several poets are using Twitter to create a deliberate collaboration.

from Detroit Free Press:
“Local poets’ collaborative effort will unfold on Twitter,” by Julie Hinds
“What do you call it when free verse meets online social networking? PoeTweet sounds about right.”

More on cento poems:
Cento defined, in our Glossary of Poetic Forms
Cento links, to read examples of cento poems online
“SemiCento,” by Bob Holman
Links to other word games & online collaborations

More on laureates:
Poets Laureate, a brief history
Poets Laureate of the U.S.A., a Net-annotated list

Our profiles of recent U.S. Poet Laureates
Kay Ryan (2008-2009)
Charles Simic (2007-2008)
Donald Hall (2006-2007)
Ted Kooser (2004-2006)
Louise Glück (2003-2004)
Stanley Kunitz (2000-2001)
Robert Pinsky (1997-2000)