Blog Posts for Marilyn Kallet

Promiscuous? This week my favorite bookstore is...

Marilyn Kallet — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:12:13 -0800

This week my fave is Deisel Books in Oakland, because they are hosting my poetry performance on Sunday, November 8th, at 3 p.m. Independent bookstores are very brave to host poets and assorted non-John-Grishams in this economy!Please patronize your local independent bookstore. And my goddess, if you're in Oakland on Sunday, please do show up to whistle and coo. Drinks after? Reading is ...

Halloween: As It Used to Be, Long Ago

Marilyn Kallet — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:40:32 -0700

When I was seven or eight years old, we lived in a working class neighborhood of Rockville Centre, Long Island. It was all blue collar, the place my mother wanted to emerge from, to rise out of. But for me as kid it was largely paradise. Sure, there were scary moments. They weren't Halloween-y. They had more to do with the older neighborhood boys who abused small girls for sport. We ...

My Favorite City is Not a City

Marilyn Kallet — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:36:51 -0700

My favorite city is not a city, it's a tiny village with 900 inhabitants--more a large family than a metropolis. It's Auvillar, where I go to commune with the poplars and the Garonne River, to interact with my dear friends the villagers, who are so welcoming. I go to eat well (the crepes, the olives, the prosciutto), where the wine makes me swoon. The place is laced with poems--they are ...

Will I Meet Red Roomers in the Bay Area?

Marilyn Kallet — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:19:42 -0700

I'm excited about performing poems at Diesel Books in Oakland, 3 p.m., Sunday, November 8th. I'll see old friends and hope to meet some online friends--just as "real"--at the bookstore event. There must be a good bar nearby where we can toast each other's health and writing. It would be great to meet in person! The November 6th reading at the Art Institute of California in ...

Oz: Anywhere Out of this World!

Marilyn Kallet — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:19:03 -0700

It was Baudelaire, not Baum, who said, "Anywhere out of this world!" He recommended that poets stay drunk, "on wine, on virtue," by any means. Ordinary life for him was torture. Of course, he had syphilis, and the attack on his brain and body probably didn't help him feel more comfortable on earth. But he was a fan of voyages out, altered states of consciousness, achieved ...

Red Room Rescue: The Three R's!

Marilyn Kallet — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:17:43 -0700

Red Room did not rescue me from the edge of a cliff, from a burning building, from a crashing plane. But rescue me it has done several times: from isolation, from feeling alone in the universe as a writer. When I first began blogging at Red Room, I was on my way to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and I was nervous as hell. Belle Yang wrote to me on Red Room to encourage my ...

The Early Bird Deadline for France: Don't Wait!

Marilyn Kallet — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:41:13 -0700

I should have titled this "Writing Paradise for Less." If you're thinking about going with me to Auvillar, France, this May (17-24), don't delay in making a deposit. We'll keep the workshop small (under twelve), and several people have made commitments already. The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts is offering discounts for writers who enroll before February first, but ...

Come with me to France!

Marilyn Kallet — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:35:12 -0700

Just posted: next workshop in the South of France! Your writing will love you for it! You can't get a bad meal; great wine can cost under 4 Euros; the people are friendly, and the light will make you want to be a painter! Come with! Your life and work will be enriched! (And you can get the "early bird" discount!) http://www.vcca.com/kallet.html/

Saying Goodbye to Success Was the Beginning of a Career

Marilyn Kallet — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:42:31 -0700

May Sarton was sickened almost to death by a bad review of her poetry in the New York Times Book Review. The review by Karl Shapiro, which appeared on Christmas Even, said, "May Sarton is a bad poet." She decided to give up on public acclaim and moved to a house in New Hampshire, where she began writing Plant Dreaming Deep, and then Journal of a Solitude. The next move was to a ...

Saying Goodbye

Marilyn Kallet — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:30:01 -0700

Saying Goodbye We embraced, there in the parking lotof the ordinary. How could I know your arms were arguing last things?Your cheek in my hair.For a moment I pressed against you. Goodbyes can be vast.In a breath, we traded lives. I didn't knowyou were a cliff I had reached the edge of.Your touch echoed.I simply followed it like song. First published in How to Get Heat Without Fire, ...