Minnesota has been in a rainy moment, melting all the snow away and leaving everything looking really really dirty. There was a red football in our yard that we discovered had been hidden under all those feet of snow. There was also a dead bird. Spring is almost here (hopefully) and so I am offering a … Continue reading »

Fiction Contest Flier Spout “Press It’s that time again. Spout Press is seeking submissions for our national fiction writing contest.  The contest runs June 1st, 2010 through January 1st, 2011.  The winner receives $250  and publication in the Fiction Contest issue of Spout Magazine.  First and Second runners-up will also be published in the special … Continue reading »

No one is going to accuse Governor Pawlenty of being overly supportive of the arts. This is, after all, the man who made disparaging comments that appointing a state poet laureate at no cost would lead to requests for a state mime, a state potter, and a state interpretive dancer – as if that is … Continue reading »

Every issue of Spout Magazine used to include a favorite quote by the Spanish poet Juan Ramon Jimenez, “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” It turns out that maybe, rules aren’t always a bad thing. A lot of this blog has been devoted to poetry, but Spout publishes fiction as well. … Continue reading »

Sometimes a line from a poem floats into my consciousness and prompts me to go back to the original work. This happened recently with a line from Frost’s famous poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The line in question is “miles to go before I sleep.” After going online, I found that I am not … Continue reading »

I could be wrong, but I suspect that a majority of readers, if polled, would say that writers in the United States are less political than their peers of the prior generation. No less than the Nobel committee has called American writers too “insular and ignorant” to compete with European authors. One need only look … Continue reading »

Today is the 2nd Annual  Read Across America Day, celebrated on March 2 to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. To quote from the Seussville site, “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.” I suspect that many poetry lovers first developed an ear for language … Continue reading »

The new issue of the New York Review of Books features an essay by Jason Epstein that is worth checking out. Publishing: The Revolutionary Future updates and elaborates on ideas he forwarded in his 2001 work: Book Business: Publishing Past Present and Future. Epstein has long been a force in the publishing world, and predicted … Continue reading »

I stumbled upon an article from Mother Jones about the demise of literary magazines. You can find it here. Although the article is specifically addressing the fate of literary magazines that are associated with colleges and universities, this article caught my attention because  a) Spout obviously has a strong interest in the preservation of literary … Continue reading »

On Valentine’s Day, I went over to my friend Steve’s house and I made him play poetry games with me. Poetry games, which have been enjoyed for thousands of years, are one way that many modern poets such as Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and Charles Bukowski (who, by the way, is a past Spout contributor) and more … Continue reading »