Iran seizes Shirin Ebadi's Nobel Peace Prize medal, demands taxes on fiancial award

From MSNBC:

Iranian authorities have confiscated Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi's medal, the human rights lawyer said Thursday, in a sign of the increasingly drastic steps Tehran is taking against any dissent....

Acting on orders from Tehran's Revolutionary Court, authorities took the peace prize medal about three weeks ago from a safe-deposit box in Iran, Ebadi said in a phone interview from London. They also seized her Legion of Honor and a ring awarded to her by a German association of journalists, she said.

Authorities froze the bank accounts of her and her husband and demanded $410,000 in taxes that they claimed were owed on the $1.3 million she was awarded. Ebadi said, however, that such prizes are exempt from tax under Iranian law. She said the government also appears intent on trying to confiscate her home.

Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to be awarded the peace prize and the first female judge in Iran, said she would not be intimidated and that her absence from the country since June did not mean she felt exiled.

"Nobody is able to send me to exile from my home country," she said. "I have received many threatening messages. ... They said they would detain me if I returned, or that they would make the environment unsafe for me wherever I am.

"But my activities are legal and nobody can ban me from my legal activities."

Read the whole story here.

Is Rap Poetry?

Poet John Lundberg wonders on Huffington Post, "Is Rap Poetry?"

It's the kind of question that makes poetry's gatekeepers spin in their office chairs, and it's easy to understand why. Comparing the two genres, there's a huge difference in artfulness and intent. It's hard to compare John Keats' meditations on the sublime to Nelly's meditations on sneakers, and Plath and P. Diddy just look silly together. At the same time--especially at a time when many consider poetry to be a dying art--I'm a proponent of its having a big tent.

Spoken word poetry offers something of a bridge between traditional poetry and rap, and some in the poetry establishment are trying to take advantage of it.

"Spoken word" is the genre found in poetry slams and jams. Lundberg discusses a poem by Gemini, a regular on Def Poetry Jam.

If I controlled the Internet

Performance poet Rives gives his two cents on the Internet at TED Talks.

Nose Goes Rose Toes - Learning Rhyme from Sesame Street

Imagine having a poetry teacher like Mr. Essex from Sesame Street!

I don't know why I said hello

From Post Secret, 11/22/09.



Read more secret confessions at Post Secret.

"Bright Star" Film & Letters of John Keats

The latest major film examining poetry focuses on 19th century English Romantic poet John Keats.



NYTimes classifies it as a Critic's Pick. Read the review.



The film is accompanied by the publication of Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne, available on Amazon.

When Living Is A Thing Money Can Buy

Browse more bathroom poetry at Ask A Urinal.

Recession Confession: If Only I Stopped Buying Poetry Books I Could Still Afford...

Huffington Post tells the story of on poetry addict amidst the current recession.

Clearly I have a problem. As the recovery merchants are always eager to remind us, we take the first of the 12 steps by admitting our own powerlessness in the face of addiction. Maybe I need help. Am I putting my family's retirement fund in peril for the sake of enjambment and interior rhyme? If the ax falls and I find myself joining the laid-off throngs--I did not know that downsizing had undone so many--will I look at that alpine range of piled-up volumes next to my bed and wince, thinking of all the money I could have saved?

Read the whole story here.

William Shatner reads the poetry of Sarah Palin

Easy Poet Costume Ideas

More poet costume ideas at poets.org.

You want to be a poet?

So get up out my face

More ridiculous rap lyrics at Snacks and Shit.

It was not death

Art by Gabrielle Bell. Text by Emily Dickinson.

Dear Grandma

www.toothpastefordinner.com

Anti-Poetry PSA

Lectio Poetica

I just presented in class tonight on the film Dead Poets Society, and the place of poetry in the church. In preparation for the presentation, I read an article by Thomas Frank, “We're Going to Read Poetry in This Class?” (Teaching Theology and Religion, vol 8 no 1, 2005: pp 47-50). Frank reads poems to his students in his church administration classes at Candler School of Theology. In the article, he outlines his method, which I've named "Lectio Poetica" because it reminded me of Lectio Divina, a slow, repetitious, prayerful reading of scripture.

I tried Lectio Poetica with a poem in class tonite, and it worked out to be even more like Lectio Divina than I expected. After my experiment, I can see this method being carried out in more seminary class rooms, in Sunday school, in retreats, meetings, or even worship.

Three points are worth mentioning. 1) The poem that is read need not be a religious work; in fact, a poem that does not speak of faith at all may be the best choice for this meditative reading. I used "The Dream" by Naomi Shihab Nye for my first trial run of this method. 2) This model may be followed for personal use as well. 3) I have not considered this yet, but the four basic movements of Lectio Divina --Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio-- may prove useful in Lectio Poetica.

Here's the Lectio Poetica method as I've adapted it from Frank.

Lectio Poetica: Reading Poetry in Class (or Church)

1. Read the poem out loud twice.


2. Project the poem on a screen, or hand out the poem on paper, leaving a moment of silence.


3. The initial reader may comment on what strikes them in the poem.


4. Invite reflection from the group, silent or spoken.