Neat on the Net: Random Summer

We got back from Viet Nam yesterday--excellent trip.

Here are a few things I missed while away:

1) "12 Things I Know About the Life of Poetry" by Tony Hoagland, over at Gulf Coast. You want to read this. You do.

2) Japanese miniaturist Tanaka Tatsuya has made a teeny tiny diorama every day for five years, using regular household items originally with 28 mm human figurines. Check it out at deMilked here and here, and if you are as captivated as I am, go to Tanaka's website.

Matt Rasmussen: Poet on the Rise

I just discovered the poet Matt Rasmussen. I'm a little late to this party, as he just was recently discovered by the Academy of American Poets who awarded him the Walt Whitman Award for 2012. Poets.org has also discovered him already (be sure to follow their links to five astounding poems), Gulf Coast has already discovered him. You may have already discovered him, but if not, waste no time and do it now.

Mission: Submission

Poet Karyna McGlynn at Gulf Coast's blog gives "My Top 5 Quick & Dirty Submission Tricks." These include ideas I've thought of myself, such as using acknowledgment pages of poets who have an aesthetic similar to mine in order to know where to submit, and also tips I've never thought of, such as using the same font as the journal to which you are submitting. For advice on writing a bio and more, check out this link.

And thanks to Diane Lockward's monthly newsletter, from which I learned of this article.

Gulf Coast Online

Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts now has an online edition, edited by my old Florida friend Will Donnelly (yay for Will!). The current edition includes poetry by Sherman Alexie, Alex Lemon, and Sharon Olds, and fiction by fellow expat Ann Tashi Slater, whom I was lucky enough to briefly meet at the Japan Writers Conference this year.

Click on the link to explore a sample of the current issue, and perhaps be inspired to subscribe to the online or print issues.