According to ralan.com, there is a new twitter poetryzine, Microcosms. If you hurry, you can be their first follower. They're in their first submission phase and will print original science fiction/fantasy/horror single-tweet poetry ($1) and reprints (exposure).

Here is a short Guardian (UK) article that explores whether there is such thing as a female poem. The subject was explored when a poetry festival and society combined and held a symposium on 'the female poem,' which had unexpectedly heavy attendance.

Here is what seems to be behind the question: "man is defined as a human being and a woman as female," so women worry more about gender and whether gender affects their writing, and men are nervous about reading the poetry of women.

FFO reported the 301-year tradition of men as the chair of the poetry department at Oxford University ("Oxford Professor of Poetry") being broken with the appointment of Ruth Padel. Now, Ms. Padel has had to step down when it was revealed that she participated in a smear campaign against her rival for the position by sending emails to two newspapers alerting them to two sexual harrassment charges against her rival. The situation has two edges since she claims she did this for the sake of students. However, she also mentioned his advanced age and the fact that he lived in the Caribbean rather than Britain, according to this NY Times report.

Ruth Padel is the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin.

The 301-year tradition of men holding the post of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University has been broken. There is no one holding that position now...no, that was a subversive joke. The position is now held by Ruth Padel, great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin. According to her web site bio:

Ruth Padel is a prize-winning British poet who also writes acclaimed non-fiction. Uniquely, she is a Fellow both of the Royal Society of Literature and the Zoological Society of London, a Member both of the Royal Geographical Society and Bombay Natural History Society. She has won the UK National Poetry Competition; individual poems from her seven collections have been widely anthologized, broadcast, and shortlisted for all major British prizes.

Bonus! Ruth Padel's great-great grandfather may want to weigh in on this recent discovery.

The Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA) has announced the award nominees for the 2009 Rhysling Award. Categories include short and long form poetry. The SFPA also publishes an anthology of speculative poetry (SF/F/H) through its Dwarf Stars award and an anthology associated with its annual poetry contest.

Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday is today, January 19.

Free world premiere of a new movie based on Poe's life, today only: Last Days of the Raven. Or go here and click Watch the Movie or view info about the cast and production company, Theatre Crossing Film Corp. The website is vague about how long the free showing will be available. After today, you'll have to buy the DVD. Here is the official trailer.

Says The Literature Network: Contributing greatly to the genres of horror and science fiction, Poe is now considered the father of the modern detective story and highly lauded as a poet. Walt Whitman, in his essay titled “Edgar Poe’s Significance” wrote: "Poe’s verses illustrate an intense faculty for technical and abstract beauty, with the rhyming art to excess, an incorrigible propensity toward nocturnal themes, a demoniac undertone behind every page. … There is an indescribable magnetism about the poet’s life and reminiscences, as well as the poems."

Flash Fiction Online published Poe's "Shadow - A Parable" as Classic #10 (HTML, PDF) in its Sept. 1, 2008 edition.

Other observances:

• WSJ: Poe at 200 -- Eerie After All These Years
• UVA: A student at UVA, he was honored - 'Nevermore' Writer Always Present at the University of Virginia
• United States Postal Service issues $0.42 Poe stamp.
• What's the connection between Baltimore, the Addams Family and Poe?
• Observances noted in SF Chronicle.
• Weird collection of Poe-related items at Guardian.co.uk.
• Quiz: What U.S. President was born the same year as Edgar Allen Poe, was assassinated in a theater, oversaw a major U.S. civil war, fathgered the civil rights movement by proclamation, wore a stovepipe hat, chopped wood, and read by a fireplace? I'll do some research and get back to you on this. Follow-up: I've narrowed it down to Abraham Lincoln and Grover Cleveland (the latter of which who, if he ever wore a stovepipe hat, kept it a secret).

The SFPA announced winners of its 2008 Dwarf Stars Award, which is given to the best short speculative poem of ten lines or less (based on membership voting).