Marilyn Kallet's Blog
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Jun.18.2013
If you are a member of a writer's family, you will be written about! Sometimes, if you are parents, the writer may wait politely until you are dead. But if you are a sibling or offspring, all bets are off!
"Good poets cannibalize...
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Jun.16.2013
My sister tells me she feels angst when she publishes poetry about our father and the mob. I tell her not to worry, no one reads poetry. Her secrets are safe. Nevertheless, I did not use the M word in my title!
I only have two...
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Jun.03.2013
I'm stuperstitious about flying. Always carry a hardback book that's sturdy (just in case we fall out of the sky, can be used as a flotation device), a book that's entertaining enough to keep my mind off the wing that's a sheet of flame. David Sedaris's books...
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Apr.25.2013
Today was the last class for Dreamworks, a workshop I teach on writing from dreams. Have taught this since 1985. There tends to be more emotion that in "regular" writing workshops. The material is less analytical or purely intellectual, more imaginative...
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Apr.13.2013
Monday night at UT, my home university, I'll be performing poems from my new book, The Love That Moves Me (Black Widow Press). My friend and colleague Arthur Smith was supposed to share the program with me; because of a death in the family, he won't grace the stage...
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Apr.01.2013
Frustrated with Amazon (they took a month to post the photo of my book cover, The Love That Moves Me, then they listed the new book as "temporarily out of stock" for a month), I said to my husband, "If I were Toni Morrison, I wouldn't be having these problems with Amazon."
My husband, a practical...
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Mar.16.2013
Usually I'm the one who hosts visiting writers and worries over the details. But Thursday night I was on the other end of the experience––I gave a reading for New South at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Laura Beasley, the poetry editor, was...
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Dec.30.2012
Can proofing be creative? If the corrections make a cleaner manuscript, a more transparent manuscript, that's a very good thing for writer and reader–but that's what we expect from proofing. If the proofreading leads to a fortunate change, a better word choice,...
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Dec.27.2012
I'm overeating and making deals with myself ("Just another twenty minutes, and we'll take a break!") Proofreading the new poetry manuscript creates for me a terrible anxiety. It's not just about getting it right, making sure the grammar and mechanics are in...
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Dec.25.2012
Proof-reading the Preface to my poetry manuscript, I see that I had written, "In a time when books and poetry are under the gun, I am all the more grateful for the support..." And I praise my publisher, Joe Phillips, at Black Widow Press. But the phrase, "under...
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Dec.19.2012
It has to be really bad, howler-bad! My undergraduate poetry teacher, XJ Kennedy, used to spend one class period at the end of term reading bad poetry to us. He would carry a basket marked "Cucumbers" filled with terrible poems, and would regale us with the...
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Dec.18.2012
In 2009, I wrote to some of my friends who are famous poets, and asked about blurbs for Packing Light: New and Selected Poems, a collection of more than 30 years of poetry (Black Widow Press.) A few writers said, "I don't do blurbs. It's my policy."
I asked Yusef Komunyakaa for a...
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Dec.13.2012
You can listen now to my stories from One For Each Night: Chanukah Tales and Recipes, thanks to New Letters on the Air! And different generations of Jewish women test my recipes! Laughter and latkes--what could be bad! (Okay, it's not Weight-Watchery, but not...
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Dec.12.2012
Just heard from adorable Angela Elam at New Letters in KC, that they will put up a link to the Chanukah program tomorrow, Thursday, after noon. www.newletters.org.
You'll hear me reading Chanukah stories from One For Each Night, and four Jewish women from Kansas City--old and young--will be...
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Dec.12.2012
Yes, tonight on New Letters on the Air, we can listen to one of my stories from One For Each Night: Chanukah Tales and Recipes. The show is appropriate for adults and for children. And four Jewish women from Kansas City will be testing my recipes (oy!) Check your local listings...
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"Eternity is in love with the productions of time."”
—William Blake
About Marilyn
Marilyn Kallet was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and grew up in New York. She is the author of 16 books, including The Love That Moves Me (poetry); Packing Light: New and Selected Poems, Black Widow Press; Circe, After Hours, poetry from BkMk Press; The...
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Causes Marilyn Kallet Supports
Southern Poverty Law Center, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, ACLU, Amnesty International, Save Darfur.