#don bogen

[gothprentiss]

don bogen, “the pond” / poetry magazine, march 1986

[missedstations]

“Return Song” - Don Bogen

How could I mourn? Time cleansed the town, scouring to brightness what had looked gray. High city hall at the head of its plaza, church like a mission with courts and arcades. Where did I walk? Through a rinsed past: bungalows, old parks, old Spanish names. Street of the Oaks, Street of the Mill, Street of the Big House, our small house there. What did I find? The porch with an arbor, the chipped stucco wall renewed in white paint. The view of the mountains more clear, more distant, my parents suspended inside memory. Whom did I seek then? Ash in the sea, drifting in thin silt some miles away.

[jshoulson]

Today’s Poem

Air --Don Bogen

Air as lost time Voice of a cloud, of a ghost crowned with nimbus Smack-thin, it lingers forty years I thought it came from the jeweled world we’d seen Everything stuffed, urgent, glittering alive But it was just pleasure, blank and sure Now what is there to sing From speakers, the tune folds and fades in waves Earphones drive it through your head

[melaniemtague]

Newpages Part II: A Compliment From Don Bogen

I really am beginning to fall behind on keeping everything up to speed on here! I will say though, that I intend on writing about my recent guest lecture experiences, and within the next two months I also intend to write about two more publications I have coming out.

As I have said before reviewing for Newpages has been a truly rewarding experience thus far. I am always curious about how many people read the reviews that are put up on the site, and the answer has to be a lot. These people are not just your every day Joe's either, people like Don Bogen, Poetry Editor for The Cincinnati Review reads them. How do I know this? He told me so himself. Check it out...

So, one morning a couple months ago I wake up and check my email to see I have an email from the editor at Newpages. I open it up and to my surprise it is a forwarded message from Don Bogen about my most reccent review of Smartish Pace saying, "Melanie Tague does a great job...ect" Of course, I looked up his email to send him a thank you and he responded saying,

"That was a sharp and thoughtful review, I thought.  I’m prejudiced, of course, because of the insightful comments you had to make about “On Hospitals,” but what you had to say about the other poems in the issue, particularly Megan Harlan’s “Bastide,” one of my favorites, was very fine indeed.  One of my biggest struggles as poetry editor at CR is finding strong reviewers—and you clearly are part of that camp."

DONBOGENSAYWHAT!? Of course, I was beyond flattered. It made my week and still continues to make me smile. I respect Don Bogen's work, and his journal so much so it meant a lot for him to say that. I even am planning on applying to grad school there, so it is exciting stuff!

So, until next time, keep reading, keep writing, keep seeking,

M

[finishedstories-blog-blog]

Air

By, Don Bogen

Air as lost time

Voice of a cloud, of a ghost crowned with nimbus

Smack-thin, it lingers forty years

I thought it came from the jeweled world we’d seen

Everything stuffed, urgent, glittering alive

But it was just pleasure, blank and sure

Now what is there to sing

From speakers, the tune folds and fades in waves

Earphones drive it through your head

[proustitute]

Flesh is approximate. We clothe it in dreams, wrestling with our eyes closed...

Don Bogen, from "Proteus"