We have a new judge for the next three months in the InterBoard Poetry Competition: George Szirtes. He’s a very interesting fellow, a much-honored poet and translator who writes in his second language, English, and whose chosen medium of poetry also came second to his training as a painter. We’ve put together a background page with links to read his poetry online and to buy his books, for those of you who’d like to get an idea of his literary predilections.

Two of the three poems chosen to represent our Poetry Forum in this month’s InterBoard Poetry Competition come from poets whose work is new to the competition; the third is by a poet whose work has often risen to the top. Our entries are:

• “Nothing to Discuss,” by Guy Kettelhack (GuyBlakeKett), a deft and delicate tracing of the experience of sitting at someone’s deathbed in his signature internal rhymes and enjambments.
• “A Persistent Memory,” by Dean Anthony Granitsas (Allogenes), a beautifully made sonnet that bears frequent rereading (re-singing).
• “For the Unknown Soldier,” by Tom McCorlew (AsIDream), a chilling and wistful journey into the mind of a young man about to embark on his last charge.

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

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