Ana Maria Caballero

The Pull Toy

September 2, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

It is rare to encounter contemporary, rhyming poetry. And especially rare to encounter good contemporary, rhyming poetry. So I was very pleasantly surprised when I found A.E. Stalling’s poem “The Pull Toy” in Five Points Journal. It is a simple, heartfelt poem, very different from the intentionally weird poetry that many reputable journals seem to prefer nowadays. It is also a carefully crafted piece that hides the many hours of its composition behind its accessible subject matter and language. A feat to […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: books, classics, literature, motherhood, poetry, reading, writing

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The Awesomest Poem Title

August 19, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

Mark Leidner is an MFA student at the prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where good writers go get ready to be nearly famous. Mark Leidner is also a filmmaker and a very accessible poet. His work is so easy to read that it seems almost un-crafted. But this sort of trickery is the sign of a gifted writer. Below are a few of his poems, published by La Petite Zinc literary journal. To the right is a random photo taken from […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: literature, poetry, writers, writing

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The Bedroom is Trees

August 12, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

Last week I wrote about a three-way interview published by “The Review Review” about the future of poetry. The three-way was composed of Rob MacDonald of Sixth Finch Journal, Matt Hart of Forklift Ohio Journal and Gale Marie Thompson of Jellyfish Magazine. I recommend at least perusing the article to get a sense of what people in the poetry world (and these are very relevant people within that cloaked realm) have to say about the general future of the genre. But what is truly special about the […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: books, literature, poetry, reading, writing

A Chat about the Future of Poetry

August 5, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

The founding editors of three of today’s most well-respected online poetry journals had a talk about the future of poetry with “The Review Review.” Here’s the link. Rob MacDonald of Sixth Finch Journal, Matt Hart who edits Forklift Ohio Journal and Gale Marie Thompson who runs Jellyfish Magazine spoke about how the masses perceive poetry and how this is affected by the way that poetry is taught. This discussion is not new within the very self-conscious poetry world, but the up-and-coming poets […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR

Mother is Drinking to Forget a Man

July 29, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

“Mother is drinking to forget a man / who could fill the woods with invitations”is perhaps one of the best poem openers I have come across. Sure, it is simple. But it is also grotesque. The phrase is already a poem before the poem even begins. This line opens Lynn Emanuel’s poem “Frying Trout While Drunk.” Emanuel is a well-established poet, whose work won a Pushcart Prize, one of the most important prizes awarded in the literary world. Today, she teaches […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: books, literature, poetry, reading, writing

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I, too, am America

July 22, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

“Langston Hughes, although only twenty-four years old, is already conspicuous in the group of Negro intellectuals who are dignifying Harlem with a genuine art life. . . .” wrote author Du Bose Heyward in the New York Herald Tribune in 1926. Despite such praise, Hughes was derided by his fellow black writers of the time for allowing race to be a main character in many of his works. The Poetry Foundation’s site has a terrific summary of Hughes’s historical relevance. […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: History, literature, poetry, writing

Mark Strand in a Colombian Páramo

July 15, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

I am writing this week from Roldanillo, Colombia, a tiny town toward the west of the country. I will be here all week attending the Colombian Women Poets Festival for the first time ever. The people I’ve met are astounding in their talent and their kindness. Please check back next week as I plan to share my experience participating in this encounter. For now, I leave you with a poem by former U.S. Poet Laureate Mark Strand, taken a few […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: hiking, literature, nature, poetry, writing

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“A Poem for Women Who Don’t Want Children”

July 8, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

I come across all sorts of poems in my continuous hunt for poetry contests and literary journals that might house the verses I wrestle to write. Yesterday, I came across a jewel. A simple, stunning jewel. The poem was a finalist for Rattle Poetry’s 2013 Contest and was written by Los Angeles-based poet Chanel Brenner, pictured to the right. To read more poems by Ms. Brenner, click here. Below is the poem that left me stunned. A POEM FOR WOMEN […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: children, death, grief, literature, poetry, writing

Suicide off Egg Rock

June 17, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

I dislike mentioning suicide when speaking about Sylvia Plath. But, today, it’s truly inevitable because the poem I chose for this week is in fact about suicide. Not hers, however. The suffering soul here is a nameless man who is disgusted by life, its sounds and waste, “that landscape / Of imperfections his bowels were part of.” Surrounded by the cacophony and filth of living, the man views death as a legitimate and desirable way out. Nor does he glamorize death. It […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: literature, poetry, Sylvia Plath, writing

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ZETEO

Zeteo (ζητέω): to challenge, question, dispute, explore the forgotten and ignored

Author Archives: Ana Maria Caballero

The Pull Toy

The Awesomest Poem Title

The Bedroom is Trees

A Chat about the Future of Poetry

Mother is Drinking to Forget a Man

I, too, am America

Mark Strand in a Colombian Páramo

“A Poem for Women Who Don’t Want Children”

Suicide off Egg Rock