The Reading March 31, 2007: My suspicion is that most people reading this blog have attended a poetry reading and actually understand what happens there. But as a university professor I have the pleasure of introducing students to poetry readings for the first time. Many of them have never been to a reading and if they even know what happens, usually, they can’t [...] by Kwame Dawes

GP on Rimbaud March 30, 2007: A famous author's blog has a 5-day hurrah for an Oulipian without rival, a facial hair champion, a wordsman so grand no long intro shall dim my post. I will just show you his initials: GP. (My brain's jumping with GP anyway, having taught my class all about Oulipo on Monday.) This blog has lots of cool stuff to absorb, including GP's lipogrammish [...] by Poetry Foundation

the long road to whitman March 30, 2007: Reading Kwame’s confession a couple days ago concerning Whitman made me think of my own meandering path towards the Jolly Big Fellow. When I was in my early twenties, I resisted Old Graybeard, because I didn’t find the wild imagery on a line-by-line basis that I coveted in those days. In fact, I found Old Graybeard kind of boring; I couldn’t [...] by Jeffrey McDaniel

“You’ll probably hate some of these poems.” March 29, 2007: An intern suggests to David Eggers that he publish poetry. Eggers says OK how? Enter The Poetry Chains of Dominic Luxford, section one in McSweeney’s three-volume Issue 22. Here’s how it works: (more...) by Fred Sasaki

A Confession March 28, 2007: So now that we are friends and quite familiar with each other, I have decided that in the spirit of the inevitable degeneration of blogs into self-indulgent confessional statements, I will now make a major confession. I could offer that it is this kind of thing that feeds my poetry—that keeps me grounded in society, that allows me to make art [...] by Kwame Dawes

W.H. (Whatta Hunk) Auden. Sigh… March 28, 2007: I have fallen absolutely, irrevocably, unflinchingly in love with W.H. Auden. I’m ashamed to say that I created a few new expletives when his 897-page collected works popped up on my MFA reading list. I planned to quickly scan the monstrous volume for cool stuff (mentions of lust, free coupons, whatever) and pen a heartfelt, though somewhat [...] by Patricia Smith

Bad Hair Day March 27, 2007: Overheard yesterday in a coffee shop: “I see you cut off all your hair.” “Yeah.” “What, you got sick of it?” “No, I donated it to Locks of Love. They’ll make it into a wig for a cancer patient.” I had long hair once—my junior year of college I had dreads. My hair was kind of curly, and I never brushed it, and it just evolved [...] by Jeffrey McDaniel

Peel Slowly and See March 26, 2007: Let’s make a Venn Diagram. Circle one consists of Einstürzende Neubauten fans; circle two, Dante aficionados. If you’re in the overlapping region, it’s time to check out Radio Inferno (posted at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog), a 1993 collaboration between E.N., Andreas Ammer, and the late great new-music DJ John Peel. (Thanks to Kosiya [...] by Ed Park

Don’t be boring, please. March 25, 2007: Sorry folks, I've been out of commission for a few days...at a poetry workshop thingie on Block Island with spotty phone and net access. But I did the "island thing" with gleeful abandon, including the requisite chilly early morning walk along the deserted shoreline accompanied by a manic Golden Retriever, And yes, I began a poem about the [...] by Patricia Smith

And, Speaking of Mark Wahlberg March 25, 2007: I found this conversation on line: orangecounty888: Hey I was just wondering if anybody out there has any pictures of Mark Wahlbergs dick or package. :D Hes always been a hunk and I have noticed that he's done Calven Klein ads and such. So please post some pictures if you have any! Thanks. dfox7x3.5: Mark's huge cock in Boogie Nights was a [...] by Rachel Zucker