 Poet's
Place
Best Seats In The House
Clayton Powell
I watch as the drama unfolds
Under evenly-spaced spotlights
Police brutality
Prostitution
Drug deals
And fist fights
This is every night
There are no premieres
I’m on the balcony
Watching the world crumble
Trying to hold back the tiers
No fat lady will appear
To signify the end
And there are no curtains to
Let us know
When the drama will begin
‘Cause on my block
The drama is non-stop
And it is I
Who has the best seats
In the house
Clayton
Powell, a self-described “urban poet”, is a Petty Officer in the
United States Navy. His work has been accepted in such underground
publications as the Native Tongue
Newsletter and Soul Fountain and
will appear in the April 2001 issue of Left
Curve. He has also has authored one chapbook, entitled “Dead On
Arrival”.
He
hopes his writing will help to create an artistic revolution in African
American communities in the coming years in which brothers and sisters will use their raw talent to escape the
shackles of everyday life.
Poetry
News
The International
Library of Poetry has a wonderful online site for poets.
If you’re looking for a quick mechanism to get your poetry
published online, check out their Web site at www.poetry.com
CD
OF THE MONTH
 Island
Life
by Ken Navarro is LitLine’s CD of the month. It’s full of smooth jazz that is sure to please
everyone’s taste. Ken
Navarro is recognized as one of today’s leading Contemporary Jazz
guitarists. He has an impressive repertoire, having performed in some of
the nation’s premiere venues and with some of the industry’s best
artists. His contribution to
Contemporary and Mainstream Jazz goes beyond his personal artistry. As founder of Positive Music Records, Ken is responsible for
launching and furthering the recording careers of many of the jazz
world’s newest artists. Ken
handles all of the A&R for Positive Music and is actively involved as
a producer on many of the label’s albums.
Ken’s vision of a musician’s record level has enhanced the
genre with over 35 new artists and over 60 releases in nine short years.
Check out Island Life and many of Ken’s other CDs, to include:
In My Wildest Dreams, Smooth Sensation and Brighter
Days, to name a few.
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 Tech
Tips
Lisa R. Cross
Email
Etiquette
Remember the
days when the postman/woman was the important person? We would
await them to bring our mail from near and far. Still an important
icon in the framework of society, the Postal Service has competition
from the Internet in the form of email.
Email has become
a vital tool in this advanced technology age. No longer do we have
to wait days or weeks to receive information from a person a few blocks
away or someone thousands of miles away. In a matter of minutes,
sometimes seconds, we can send a message, document or program to
someone, making the task completely paperless!
Now that we have
email, can send and receive email, let's set some user guidelines for
emailing.
Some terms:
Spam: unsolicited (marketing) email; selling or soliciting.
CC: carbon copy; sends email to this person as well as sender.
Bcc: Blind carbon copy; send email to this person without the sender
or CC seeing their name.
Attachment: the ability to attach/add a document to the email message
you are sending.
Email client: software you are using to access your email (not like
Hotmail), e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape, or Eudora. Used
to access POP3 email from a central server.
POP3: post office protocol is used to retrieve email from a mail
server.
ISP: Internet service provider (e.g. AOL, BellSouth, AT&T,
SWBell) company you use to access the Internet.
Other email options: read receipts, high and low importance,
flagging for follow up, adding a standard signature, and auto-achieving.
More...
 Dealing with
Rejection
Cydney Rax
As an aspiring writer, I know what it’s like to be
rejected. About a year ago, the process of finding an agent was initiated
and I began mailing query letters. The best thing about this experience is
the fact that I knew in advance that rejection is to be expected. Just
about any writer who’s ever been published has been told “No”, or
“This story is not for me”, or “Your work isn’t good enough.”
How does it feel when you get that letter?
Well, the first time I got a rejection letter, I was actually
excited. I was like,
“It’s happening, I’m doing this.” But as time elapsed, time that
is considered precious by any would-be writer, I experienced mixed
emotions. I’d think of
Bernice McFadden who said it took her nine years to find an agent, or Eric
Jerome Dickey, who reportedly experienced more than 300 rejections, I
couldn’t imagine myself having the strength to (1) wait that long to be
published, and (2) have the endurance to keep going.
More...
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Literary
Contest
Aspiring
Writers Contest
Question
of the Month
What is the only word in the English language that
ends with the letters "mt"?
OUR WINNER: Received
July 2, 2001, 3:44 PM, EST from Lanita Sparrow of Silver
Spring, Maryland. Congratulations!
Answer: dreamt
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