Registration is still open for Speaking of Love: A Poetry Seminar and Workshop. Class starts next Sunday, September 8, at 10 AM and will continue for six Sundays. All classes will be online.
To register or for more information, contact me at mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net.
I was recently contacted by Ben Shepherd whose passion for books led him to creating a web site to help promote the work of contemporary authors by not just listing their books but by having them choose their favorite writers whose work is akin to theirs. Writers don[‘t just choose their influences, however; they also explain their choices, leading readers into insights into the author’s creative wellspring. These associations lead to avenues of interest for readers, leading them on a path to the author’s own work. The purpose is to create interest in your book as well as sales.
I recently participated in this exercise and my “page” was just published for my novella, The Appointment.
You can learn more about Shepherd here and here. Hopefully, this will provide an avenue for our own work.
Enrollment is now open for Speaking of Love: A Poetry Seminar and Workshop. Together, we will explore the many facets of love poetry, from Sappho up to the present, participate in writing exercises and write poems related to love.
Class begins in September and will be conducted online. The cost for this 6 week workshop is $225.
To enroll, simply click on the PayPal button to submit your enrollment fee. Class is limited to 10 poets.
For more information, contact me at mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net.
I look forward to working with you.
The Missing Slate is an online literary magazine based in Pakistan. As stated on its site, it’s mission is to support “marginalized communities through actively uplifting and standing in solidarity with [those] communities. The core and editorial team that helps in the realization of this dream does so by maintaining a platform for free expression for literary work and art, nurturing an environment where diverse voices can be heard without censorship or suppression.”
Currently, The Missing Slate’s mission is to sponsor a family in Gaza, and they are now running a fundraiser on gofundme.
You can read more about The Missing Slate, their mission, the gofundme effort as well as their current issue by clicking here.
In celebration of my forthcoming book, A Brief Gazelle: Poems of Love and Grief, I am offering an online seminar and workshop called Speaking of Love: Love Poetry Across the Ages. This course will explore poetry dealing with love, in its many manifestations, through a series of lectures, readings, discussions and workshops. Participants will read and discuss poems, from the past up to the present, that relate to the subject of love in order to get a grounding for the different approaches to love poetry.
Topics will include:
Participants will be assigned weekly exercises and will write at least one love poem which will be critiqued and discussed by the other poets.
Sessions will be held online on six Sundays beginning in September.
For more information or to register, contact mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net
Bio:
Mike Maggio is an assistant adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College, an associate editor at Potomac Review, and a graduate of George Mason University’s MFA program in Creative Writing His latest collection of poetry, Let’s Call It Paradise, won the International Book Award for Contemporary Poetry in 2023. His newest collection, A Brief Gazelle: Poems of Love and Grief. is forthcoming from San Francisco Bay Press. His publication credits include fiction, poetry, travel and reviews in many local, national and international publications including Potomac Review, The L.A. Weekly, The Washington CityPaper, and The Washington Independent Review of Books. His full-length fiction publications include a novel, The Wizard and the White House (Little Feather Books, 2014), a novella, The Appointment (Vine Leaves Press, 2017), and a collection of short stories, Letters from Inside (Vine Leaves Press, 2019). His web site is www.mikemaggio.net.
Last week, I had the honor to be interviewed by Grace Cavalieri for her program, The Poet and the Poem which is broadcast from the Library of Congress. In addition to reading from my new book, A Brief Gazelle: Poems of Love and Grief, due out soon, topics included fiction writing as well as the war in Gaza.
Here is a link to the interview/reading:
A Brief Gazelle is now in the final stages of production and will be out soon. Stay tuned here for an update.
of the first bee of spring
embraces the gentle stroke
first debutante in the fresh fresh dance of the dewy spring dawn
air first flush of fragrance first burst of boldness
with passion orange tongue tasting the
flourish first yawn of color purple
bathes in the golden sun first
blossom blithe and bashful
peeling away first
first petal
first bud
up
up and
stretches
snow
in
gled
snug
er stem
slend
eager earth
from the
up
ing
ris
sprout
first
s
e
s
i
r
a
first flower of spring
Copyright 2024 Mike Maggio
As you know, Grace Cavalieri, Maryland’s Poet Laureate, was this year’s 30 for 30 judge. All of this year’s poems were judged blindly in a document I sent to her in May. After reading all the poems, she has selected “The Resort,’ by Jennifer Keith, as the winning poem.
Congratulations Jennifer!
Here is are Grace’s comments on the poem:
“My choice for the most fulfilling poem THE RESORT
This poem brought the nighttime mind into the day world while still maintaining a subconscious quality.
This is first class craft; Repetition of phrases and word patterns create a haunting resonance.
Fantasy is best when tethered in reality. The poet did this perfectly. The aesthetics on the page serve to fashion the illusion into order.”
Jennifer will be receiving a one-year subscription to Potomac Review, our sponsor. Thanks to Katherine Smith and Albert Kapikian, the editors, for once again sponsoring us. And thank you to all the poets who participated this year.
Stay tuned for next April’s challenge.
Mike
A Brief Gazelle: Poems of Love and Grief is now available for pre-order.
Here’s what’s being said about the book:
Because he writes about what we value, Mike Maggio restores consciousness to language. His unswerving commitment to clarity makes poetry relevant as well as harmonic. Lyricism would mean nothing without the fine art of meaning; and, over time, other writers may wind down, but Mike Maggio will continue speaking with beauty, strength, and wisdom. In our poetry world, Maggio will surprise new readers who find him for the first time; and he will reassure old readers who are his fans.
— Grace Cavalieri, Maryland Poet Laureate
In A Brief Gazelle, Mike Maggio explores the complexities of love–the joy and grief, the ephemeral and eternal, the real and surreal. Maggio masterfully integrates cinematic sensations of image and seasonal landscapes–inhabited by birds and celestial beings, flowers and trees, lakes and seas, and lovers who appear and disappear like gazelles–with a soundtrack of love songs. We hear the voices of lover and beloved expressing joy and pain, love that’s lost and found, grief that never leaves, and readers identify as both the speaker of the poem and the reader.
— Cathy Hailey, Author of I’d Rather Be a Hyacinth and Vice-President, Poetry Society of Virginia
Valentines of love glimpsed, love sung, love gone. Mike Maggio’s A Brief Gazelle: Poems of Love and Grief is a collection of wistful hearts with lines like “I return, commune with you in my dreams a thousand times” (Oranges in Palestine), “The day burst madly with you” (Un Jour). and “[I wonder] what you’ve become” (“Zamfir’s Flute”). Any of us who look back with wondrous regret will enjoy these poems.
— Hiram Larew, Poet
Stay tuned for upcoming events
Cover artwork and design by Antonella Manganelli
