Conducting Poetry: All Aboard!

Photo ©2012 Cynthia Brackett-Vincent

In the Aurorean's most recent blog, I mentioned that I was set to attend the Frost Place Conference on Poetry and Teaching. I did so almost two months ago, in an idyllic setting (the picturesque Franconia, New Hampshire 1915–1920 homestead of Robert Frost). You can visit the Frost Place website at: http://www.frostplace.org/

Little did I know where that would lead. The Conference was led by Baron Wormser, former Poet Laureate of Maine, and Dawn Potter, poetess extraordinaire. For more information on Baron, visit http://www.teachpoetry.com/bio.html and for more on Dawn, see http://dlpotter.blogspot.com/p/biography.html

Both are gifted teachers. I'd had the opportunity to workshop poems with Baron prior to attending the Conference. What struck me most was his generous spirit, and his ability to direct a workshop in a gentle manner. I would use the words "conduct" and "lead" to describe his process. Often in a workshop setting, the word "critique" would be used. ("Critique" and "cringe" are close neighbors.)

Dawn has been published in the Aurorean (and in our new reprint anthology; see below); we have nominated her work for the Pushcart Prize, and I've been fortunate to hear her read her own poetry. I'm also acquainted with Dawn via social media, so I knew I would be experiencing something unique and special at the Frost Place.

One of the first things mentioned by Baron and Dawn is that poetry is an emotional gift. Secondly, it was said, it is also a director into language. And the next item mentioned was my Frost Place Great Epiphany. It was said that if people don't meet a conductior of poetry, they will never get on the (metaphorical) poetry train. Through my work with the Aurorean, I attempt to be a poetry conductor. But most people I encounter (readers/contributors) have already boarded the train. I also work with elementary students on a volunteer basis, and I feel as though I am inviting them to get on the poetry train at an early age.

The ephiphany for me is that I re-remembered what it is I want to do. I want to teach poetry—specifically, the appreciation of poetry. In my adult life, I went to college part-time for almost ten years, and finished in 2005 with a BFA in Creative Writing. I've facilitated workshops for students and adults. I began teaching poetry through the Maine Adult Education system in 2006. But I encountered a roadblock. In Maine, to become certified as an Adult Education instructor, I had to undergo a background check complete with fingerprinting (no problem), and I also had to take an exam in reading (flying colors), writing (flying colors again) and math (fail). The bottom line is: even if I had a doctorate in poetry I could not receive my Adult Education certification in Maine unless I passed the math test.

Therefore, I gave up on receiving my certification (I'd been tortured enough by mathematics in my college career) and I taught Adult Education poetry classes uncertified (definition: for less pay than if I was certified). I did so until I got sick in 2007. After a long struggle to find the proper diagnosis (Lyme disease), then came the struggle to recover. After eighteen months of treatment, and several months after treatment, I am finally almost fully recovered. Thus, the desicion to go to the Frost Place.

So how to teach poetry to adults? Get a math tutor? Emphatically, no. Apply for a master's degree program? Yes! I am ecstatic to say I will be pursuing my MA in English/Creative Writing beginning next month. I'll kill three birds with one stone: no math necessary (!); I'll receive a more comprehensive education in English than I now have; I will be able to teach at the college level.

I will be able to hand out the invitation "All Aboard the Poetry Train!" when I am done. I want to share my enthusiasm for poetry with adults who may be at the stage I was back in 1994 when I began college at a community college and had the good luck to meet my personal poetry conductor, my English Comp II professor.

I'd encourage anyone interested in poetry and teaching to take advantage of the programs offered at the Frost Place. It was recently announced that Baron has taken on a new role, as director of Educational Outreach. Dawn will stay on as director of the Conference on Poetry and Teaching and the two will work closely together. I'd venture a guess that participants in any program at TFP come away with their own personal poetry epiphanies.

In the midst of this busy summer, we have been focused on the release (just this month) of the Aurorean's first reprint anthology, Favorites from the first fifteen years. You can read a full review here http://www.bigbangpoetry.com/2012/07/review-of-favorites-the-anthology-of-the-aurorean-journal.html. The response so far has been very positive. This special publication has been a several-months-long labor of love. It is our wish that many of the poems included will become new favorites for our readers. To order your copy, go to: http://www.encirclepub.com/store/product/favorites

As the summer winds down, keep in mind that our yearly chapbook contest deadline of 9/1 is just around the corner! See http://www.encirclepub.com/chapbookcontest for more information.

I'll see you in my travels on the poetry train.

New Year, NewPages/New Review, New Ideas!

It's a bit late to say "Happy New Year!" at the beginning of February. I've taken a bit of a hiatus from the blog (no posts at all in December or January; no posts from me since November). But there's good reason for that—refer to my "Stealing Time" post of October 7th. I mentioned that I'd been fighting an illness. In November, that illness was finally diagnosed (Lyme Disease*). Since then I've been busy putting my recovery protocol in place and dealing with exaggerated symptoms (the Lyme does NOT want to go away—it was very happy having me as its unwitting host). After a little over two months of treatment, I am beginning to see tiny glimmers of better days ahead. So it's time to get back to the Aurorean blog and say (a very, very belated) "HAPPY NEW YEAR!".

One of our first happy surprises of 2011 was a wonderful review of the 15th Anniversary Issue in NewPages. Reviewer Sima Rabinowitz ended with a gem of an endorsement: "This little journal will fill you up." :-) {This is us, smiling.} Rabinowitz honed in on poems by contributors Steve Ausherman, Brigit Truex, Bridgette E. Hahn, Kenneth O'Keefe, and Connie Post. We are honored as always to have such fine talent grace our pages. To read the full review: http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazine-reviews/2011-01-30/#Aurorean-v15-i2-Fall-Winter-2010-2011. If you're not familiar with NewPages, it's THE go-to online site for everything-literary. Journals, contests, chapbook publishers, writing programs and more.

As we move into our 16th year of publication, what's in store? We want to consistently offer our readers and contributors what they've come to expect—from our New England theme, our love for Nature and haiku, our upbeat quality, to our timely response to submissions and our punctual publication (I'm proud to say that from Volume I, Issue 1 to now, we have always published in the month promised). But what else? New ideas!

In the coming months, we will be announcing new ways for poets to recieve more reward and recognition for outstanding poetry. Poets' work will be showcased in the Aurorean with designations in addition to our now Featured Poet, Best Poem of Last Issue, and Creative Writing Student Outstanding Haiku Award. We are carefully reviewing ways to do this without taking any of the distinction away from the Featured Poet position, and without taking emphasis away from poets who may have multiple poems in an issue.

Stay tuned to our Announcements page on our website {http://www.encirclepub.com/poetry/aurorean/announcements} as we formulate these new ideas and put them into place. 2011 is just the beginning. To use Browning's words, "…the best is yet to be." Of course, at the beginning of that statement, he said, "Grow old along with me"—let's just leave the "old" part out.



*See my new brand-new blog, WritingLyme: http://writinglyme.blogspot.com

"14/17/2000/FP2007": Guest Blog from Poet Russell Rowland

Hi, I’m “14/17/2000/FP2007.” Given name, Russell Rowland. My Aurorean alter ego, created by editor Cynthia especially for the 15th Anniversary Issue, tells you (and reminds me) that I have appeared in the journal fourteen times, had seventeen poems published in it since 2000, and was Featured Poet in 2007. As I remarked to Cynthia after receiving this informative moniker, she and I go back a long way. Indeed, if I’ve counted on my fingers correctly, only five contributors to the landmark issue go back farther.

Each time I turn the pages, the feeling increases that this unique suffix of numbers and letters is as special to me as my educational and professional degrees. First, and most obviously, the Aurorean is such a handsome journal. Font, format, and photography (by Cynthia) distinguish one of those publications in which one is delighted to appear, confident that one’s own work will look so darn good in context (as opposed to mags that have one biting one’s nails about what may have happened to it in its pages). When my contributor’s copy arrives, I always think, “When I finally have a book, may it look as nice as this…”

Second, the combination of “New England,” “seasons,” and “uplift” work together to produce a consistent, convincing viewpoint, that both transcends the individual contributions, and unites and reinforces them. It’s a magazine with a message: not a heavy-handed, preachy, or travelogue message, but a worldview that, like the work of a good individual poet, finds universality in the particular. Each issue seems less an anthology or miscellany than a unified statement about life as it is lived among the blessings and idiosyncrasies of a given place. And, as another editor puts it about another mag, in the Aurorean there is no “pissing or moaning” about our lot. Between its covers one finds a celebration of life in this environment, under these circumstances. It may sound trite, but for fifteen years under Cynthia’s editorship, it has encouraged our gladness to be alive.

Third, my “14/17/2000/FP2007” reveals her intentional focus in the Anniversary Issue, which is no different—just perhaps more explicit—than the focus in the issues that preceded it. This focus is, she says, “to celebrate our contributors and our relationships with them.” Nothing could say more about the personal touch she brings to editing, about why it’s a pleasure to be associated with her as a contributor, or about the kind of person she is: happy to step out of the spotlight on the auspicious anniversary, and let it shine on her poets.

I write as one who has been submitting for publication long enough to have dealt with all kinds of editors: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have on occasion not been treated well, sometimes unintentionally and sometimes intentionally. I have received responses that might have made a less determined writer give up, aghast. I’m as aware as any writer that editors are human beings, and in a few cases flawed ones.

One is safe with the Aurorean. Submissions are treated with care, submitters with respect. Transactions are timely, predictable, professional, yet cordial. At all times it’s obvious that a warm, caring human being is at the other end, one who is a writer herself and knows what both sides of the desk are like.

It is indicative of the kind of respectful, solicitous, meticulous relationship that Cynthia has with her contributors, that she and I have become friends over the years—friends who have never laid eyes on each other (save by photo), but whose mutual regard began with the common cause of poetry and over time included details of family, illnesses, aspirations, and mutual encouragement. I have no doubt many other contributors can say the same. In theory, it ought to be problematic to mix an editor/contributor relationship with a friend/friend relationship. Warning flags about conflicts of interest pop up. But in practice, there has never been a problem. Cynthia and I have enriched and exhorted each other, in good times and hard, as friends do. We have made each other chuckle, and made each other thoughtful, as friends do.

But she has never hesitated to return a submission, with thanks and best wishes, if it didn’t seem quite right for the Aurorean, and our camaraderie has not suffered in the least. She has, thank goodness, felt no need to accept my work solely because she likes me. Indeed, our friendship often seems to benefit the editorial process. I fondly remember, when I was to be Featured Poet in 2007, the exchange of e-mails as we wrangled over one blooming line in a poem, working together to make it better, but not easily seeing eye to eye. It was a friendly wrestling match, ending in laughter. I have worked with over a hundred journal editors, and with how many do I enjoy that kind of relationship?

So, this is “14/17/2000/FP2007,” and proud to be so, signing off with the hope that, like the odometer on my car, the numbers in my Aurorean moniker will keep turning over upward—both for the sake of my development as a poet, and for the satisfaction of knowing that, not unlike our flag over Fort McHenry, the Aurorean is “still there.” Thank you, Cynthia—and I trust you can hear the affection behind those words.


——Russell Rowland is a four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, recent winner of descant’s Baskerville Publishers Poetry Award, and 2010 winner of Old Red Kimono’s Paris Lake Poetry Contest. His chapbook, Train of All Cabooses, can be ordered from Finishing Line Press. He enjoys Moxie, classical music, hiking, and snow-shoeing.

"Guest" blog from our Assistant Editor, Devin McGuire: A Tale of Two Students: Math Dilemmas, Poetry Delights

A little over seven years ago I was a non-traditional college freshman at the University of Maine at Farmington, (non-traditional meaning I was thirty-two years old). I’d come seeking a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing but due to some academic deficiencies in mathematics I had yet to gain entrance into this highly touted writing program. Like many people of the literary breed, math has always been a struggle for me. It was therefore that I found myself an undeclared-major in a non-credited remedial math course for people slow with numbers. It was bad enough being a thirty-two year-old college freshman but the remedial math really threw a penumbra over the goal I was aiming for. If I struggled with basic math and algebra, how ever was I to navigate the next four years of college, or even get accepted into the selective creating writing program for which I had come?

Little did I know at the time that sitting with me on that first day of class was a kindred spirit facing the very same obstacles and fears as I. Cynthia stood out from day one not only because she was obviously non-traditional like myself, nor because of her diminutive stature, but also because as I remember it, she showed up late the first day, flustered, embarrassed, and apologetic. As bad as I felt for her it felt good to know I wasn’t the only one dealing with all those emotions and concerns. I really only vaguely recall Cynthia mentioning her poetry journal the Aurorean in that class, and I didn’t take much time to converse with her about it, either. My muse hadn’t hit yet and I was more interested in creative nonfiction at the time. More importantly though I wasn’t yet a creative writing major, and was really more concerned about passing that darn math class than chatting. Perhaps Cynthia was too, as it would have nearly been impossible to converse with her anyway owing to the fact that she stayed after class a lot to get help from the teacher or tutors from the math clinic. She was always so nice and kind though, and it was a joy just to know she was there even if she was struggling with the rest of us.

A semester later having passed the class Cynthia and I were both creative writing majors. Alas, going to a liberal arts college, neither of us was done with math yet (at this juncture, Cynthia likes to point out that she had already passed one basic and one college math class prior to coming to UMF) and we found ourselves in class together again. It was here that I took interest in Cynthia’s poetry journal. I’d been taking a poetry class and found myself enjoying it a lot and taking more readily to the form than I’d ever done before. I also knew now that as a full fledged major I’d have to complete an internship somewhere at sometime before graduation. On the first day of the new math class when we introduced and told a little about ourselves someone hiding way in the back of the class mentioned that she published a poetry journal. I spun around in my seat and there sat Cynthia way in the back. I smiled and exclaimed “Poetry!! Oh yeah that’s right! We gotta talk!” The next day she brought me a copy of the Aurorean and told me all about its beginnings and encouraged me to submit. The semester wore on; numbers danced about causing consternation and bewilderment for both Cynthia and myself. Again my focus was drawn to more pressing non-literary battles. Again Cynthia’s was too, as I could often hear her groaning from the back of class when the quizzes and tests were handed out. Then a funny thing happened. Two creative writing majors (Cynthia and I) completed the rest of college without having one single writing class together.

The spring of my junior year Cynthia graduated. At her senior reading she was one of the best poets to read and the poems she read still stick in my memory. That fall as I sat in my senior seminar class I was outwardly lamenting the fact that I hadn’t chosen an internship yet and wasn’t sure what to do. I explained to a classmate that over the course of the four years my heart had really turned to poetry but that the internships most popular among students at the time were not the places I wanted to go. I’d heard stories from former interns whom explained that they didn’t get to read any manuscripts or even perform any sort of duty that gave them a working knowledge of the poetry publishing business. Instead they were nothing more than free-labor administrative assistants and glorified gophers. I wanted something of substance from my internship. It was then that the quietest girl in the class, Katherine, spoke up and asked did I know Cynthia Brackett-Vincent, to which I replied “yes!” and did I know she’s taking on interns now? After getting Cynthia’s e-mail address from Katherine I contacted her and she said she’d be delighted to have me come on board next semester as her intern.

What I got from interning with Cynthia went far beyond anything I ever could have hoped for interning elsewhere. Cynthia didn’t look at me as free labor to help lessen her load. Instead she treated me as a pupil. My first few weeks were spent not only reading back issues of the Aurorean to get a feel for its stylistic content but she also had me reading several other small press journals to compare and contrast and get a good feel for what the small press industry was all about. Along with this a companion reading of the Small Press Review even gave a deeper understanding and appreciation for the small press world. Cynthia takes a loving interest in haiku, dedicating the back pages of every issue of the Aurorean to haiku and poems in the spirit of haiku. Owing to the fact that unlike free verse haiku is a formalized poem that goes much deeper than just the 5-7-5 syllabic guide most people are familiar with, Cynthia also had me deep into a text about haiku exploring and learning the very roots and historical arc of this ancient form of poetry. Then Cynthia handed me a copy of Poets Market and had me study it cover to cover and learn how to use it. I’d never seen Poets Market before and to this day am still flabbergasted at the fact that it along with Writers Market weren’t integral texts for creative writing majors at UMF. It’s important to learn the ropes of submitting your work for publication and this was a big failure I saw in the program I was in. In fact after having got through my first few weeks of interning for Cynthia I honestly felt like I’d been armed with more knowledge than anything I’d gotten from the whole of my creative writing program which I’d describe as a course of persistent excruciating workshopping peppered with very little study and learning things other than craft. Cynthia helped filled-in the gaps for me that I felt UMF had ignored. She even had me write up response papers to every bit of reading and instruction she had given. This to be sure I was picking up what she wanted me to from all of this. Only then after this crash course did she open up the doors to the inner workings of the Aurorean and all that went into it.

I got to read manuscripts and make comments. I mailed out acknowledgements, acceptances, and rejections. I learned Cynthia’s meticulous filing system. I helped with editing and proofing. The whole semester culminated into a finished journal that even an intern could take pride in. The last day of my internship Cynthia had me over to her home for a pizza/packing party where I helped her and her husband Eddie eat pizza, pack, label, and mail the finished product. It didn’t feel like work, it felt like a celebration.

It’s not for me to say what Cynthia saw in me that made her ask later that summer if I wouldn’t mind staying on as her part-time Assistant Editor rather than take on another intern; that’s a blog for her. I will say though that I feel fortunate she did. Before long Cynthia had me doing enough work and really allowed me to be as much of the review process where she began to feel it was silly to call me the “part-time” Assistant Editor, and decided to give me the full fledged title of Assistant Editor.

There are few things more pleasurable to me than going to the Aurorean’s post office box only to find it stuffed with submissions that I get to rip open and dig into for review. The Aurorean has established itself in the small press industry over the years so it’s always fun to see the names of established poets of minor fame cross my desk (this is to say I’m not sure any poet today could be considered to be of major fame). It’s even more fun to put on my editor’s hat and review for review’s sake and not be dazzled by the prolific publication of an established poet. I remember one poet of note whom I’d read and liked in a major anthology, someone who was really hitting his stride in the 60’s and writing some great stuff. After I tempered my excitement and read his manuscript the way expected of an editor I tossed it aside with an exclamation of “Oh my! No good! He’s lost it.” It was then that I knew I’d truly arrived as an editor.

Much of the time I spend reviewing manuscripts I come across poetry that I personally love but know that in no way was is it an Aurorean poem, or even a poem that Cynthia would like enough to publish in the broadsheet publication the Unrorean which she considers the Aurorean’s alter ego. It’s just a matter of tastes. I like lots of different styles. This is not to say Cynthia doesn’t, her bookshelf, and her own poetry is a testament to that fact, but it’s worth noting that the Aurorean isn’t a journal of eclectic poetry. We have very specific guidelines for our submissions, which in the long run has produced a journal that continues to gain new readership while retaining the subscribers we’ve had over the years. People know what to expect; they look forward to each new issue not only for its familiarity but for its freshness as well. The Fall/Winter 2010-2011 issue, due out late October marks the fifteenth anniversary for the Aurorean. It’s a fact that most poetry journals do not last this long. Marking fifteen years while still growing strong is a true testament to the quality and loving care that Cynthia continues to put into her journal. You just don’t make it this long in this business unless you are truly producing something of high quality. I’m proud to be a part of it all.

I’ve been with the Aurorean now for nearly four years. This relationship has blossomed into becoming a full-fledged member of Encircle Publications, which is the publishing company Cynthia’s graphic-designer husband Eddie Vincent co-owns with her. Eddie designs the covers for the Aurorean, which are produced from beautiful photographs taken by Cynthia. Along with the poetry side of things Encircle Publications has produced thousands of book cover designs for all sorts of books in the fiction/nonfiction genre as well as promotional materials for many authors and clients. The company is currently growing its graphic design department and expanding into the e-book field and other publishing avenues. I am very much happy to be a part of these endeavors and owe much of my gratitude to Cynthia for believing in me and having me come on board. Because of Cynthia’s belief in me she granted me the editorship of her broadsheet the Unrorean. Now I’m at the helm of a publication that I too wish to nurture and watch gain readership and growth. I’ve certainly learned from a great teacher how to accomplish this.

I thank the readers of this blog for hearing my story and invite all of you to congratulate Cynthia for her amazing accomplishment in guiding the Aurorean through fifteen years of publication. Here’s to fifteen more!

-Asst. Ed. Devin McGuire