The Cockroach in the Corner April 11, 2007: Jeffrey and others, I love the idea of figuring out—in part as a way of exploring what invisible or less visible lines connect us—where our sensibilities overlap and which poets we all hold dear. Harryette Mullen is a damn good choice! Who else? David Antin? This raises the question of whether the poets we might have in common are [...] by Rachel Zucker

National Poetry Month April 10, 2007: There are some threads that I keep meaning to tackle but keep forgetting to tackle because of time and distraction. Perhaps they will somehow become connected as I tackle them. I remember declaring anthologies to be the enemies of poets and I am kind of proud of this statement, not for its truth, but for is provocations. At some level, I still [...] by Kwame Dawes

Phebus Etienne is dead. April 10, 2007: That won’t mean anything to most of you. One sweet windswept world of a woman has suddenly gone missing, and the earth stupidly soldiers on, insisting on its spin, already moving us to a time and place beyond her. Right now it’s hard to believe that anything exists beyond her. Phebus was a reverent Haitian lyric, a deft conjurer of language [...] by Patricia Smith

Wrong is Right April 10, 2007: Gang, Now that we are entering the second month of our three month stint here, it's nice to be getting to know each other. It's sort of like that moment in therapy when you begin to question the therapist about the dynamic happening in the room rather than the events in your life: always a prerequisite to good therapy. So, with that in mind, [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

the 1 poet all 5 bloggers have in common? April 9, 2007: It seems like now is the time when we disclose how we do or don’t know our fellow bloggers, so here goes: The first time I read with Patricia was September, 1993, a venue called the Women’s Building in the Mission District (San Francisco). It was the semi-finals of the National Poetry Slam. We actually read back-to-back as our teams were [...] by Jeffrey McDaniel

Wow. The silence is deafening. April 8, 2007: It seems no one really cares to know why we don't know each other. Go figure. I say we set up a lunch or dinner, shoot the shinola, get this thing figured out. Kenneth? Rachel (I imagine you hugely pregnant)? Kwame, you coming this way anytime soon? Jeff? I see us as a United Nations of poetry. All hope lies with us. We must not fail. P by Patricia Smith

Pink Elephant with Corn and Pickle? April 8, 2007: Kenneth, Kwame, Patricia and Jeffrey, I’m glad Kenneth pointed out that we do not know each other. Perhaps this is obvious, but it seems to me that the fact that we’re from different communities is no coincidence. I imagine the Poetry Foundation asked us in part because as a group we are “diverse.” So, I’m thinking now about what I [...] by Rachel Zucker

More elephant poop. April 8, 2007: Glad to meet you, Kenneth. My name is Patricia. I only have four books published, and I’m nowhere near a university position. But I’m a poet, damn it, and have been one for two decades. So why haven’t we met, been published together, shared a mic, or partied into the wee hours with a group of like-minded souls? Almost 20 years ago, I stepped [...] by Patricia Smith

Don’t Panic April 8, 2007: Dear Friends, I know I have just swamped the blog with multiple blogs. I thouight I was catching up. Maybe I was not. This is not a new trend. I will return to my occasional blogs, but I had lots to share. Some of these blogs have been in gestation for a few days. This week, I will write blogs about National Poetry Month. This is because I have [...] by Kwame Dawes

Here’s The Elephant April 8, 2007: Kenneth, So the elephant in the room must be race. And race has much to do with lots of what happens in America. But race does not explain everything. There are other lines of demarcation that complicate things, and Jeffrey McDaniel is right in suggesting that there are many sides and these sides have something to do with the narratives that have [...] by Kwame Dawes