Good-bye Harriet June 30, 2007: So I am leaving Harriet today. My fourth book of poems, The Endarkenment, was recently accepted for publication (by University of Pittsburgh Press), and I want to focus on revising the manuscript, and also developing some prose ideas. (more...) by Jeffrey McDaniel

returning to the national slam as an observer, 8 years later June 30, 2007: In an earlier post, I spoke about participating in the National Poetry Slam in the early 90’s. Here I will talk about what I saw at the National Poetry Slam in August 2006 in Austin, Texas, when I returned as an observer. I was invited back to take part in a reading of old-timers and to be on a couple of panels. Because I hadn’t been in almost [...] by Jeffrey McDaniel

Listen. June 30, 2007: You may have noticed that my voice has been strangely silent, that I haven't been whispering anything at all into Harriet's ear. That's because for the last week, I've been teaching at Cave Canem, the intense and inimitable retreat for African-American writers. The only choice we have here is to immerse ourselves in what is offered, to revel in [...] by Patricia Smith

Frozen Words June 29, 2007: Frozen Words, Nicole Dextras, Winter 2007. Stay cool this weekend. These words were made out of ice and set out in the landscape and left to melt. The largest project was the word VIEW which stands 6 feet high. The other words were done with marquee letters that are about 18 inches high. The high winds off Lake Ontario sometimes blew individual [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

Apologies June 28, 2007: To Our Latina/o Readers, First of all, my apologies that this piece offended you. It was not intended to. Rather, it was meant to bring some of the simmering comments up from below the fold. Also, it was meant to highlight the fact that the Spanish language was absent from this site, something I learned from all of you. And thirdly, it was meant [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

Harriet is Reading You June 28, 2007: You are reading these words because your machine is reading code. The code instructs the machine how to respond to the clicks and keyboard strokes that you make in response to reading text. This interplay between words and machine code makes up Harriet’s (inter)face. If you wanted to create art by playing with Harriet’s make up—not just the [...] by Emily Warn

Reading my Old Poems June 26, 2007: It is at once humbling, startling, and puzzling. Every so often, I have to do a cleaning out of my office. This means going into files spilling with slips of paper, old manuscripts, unpublished poems, letters, posters, galley proofs, students’ papers and more of the detritus of a life spent collecting papers, filling pages with words and [...] by Kwame Dawes

Soy un poeta estadounidense June 26, 2007: Soy un poeta estadounidense, y como el resto de mis compatriotas, hablo sólo un idioma. Cuando me pidieron que escribiera para Harriet, el blog del Poetry Foundation, supuse que lo último que necesitaba Harriet (o para el caso el resto del mundo) era más sobre la cultura norteamericana (recuerdan la canción de The Clash "I'm So Bored with the [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

The Avant-Garde. Priceless. June 25, 2007: Click to enlarge This unbelievable full-page MasterCard ad ran in last Wednesday's NYTimes. Left to right: Jack Smith, (unidentified man), Harry Smith, Panna Grady, William S. Burroughs, Andy Warhol; NYC, winter 1964-65 by Kenneth Goldsmith

All Memory Is Fiction June 24, 2007: Many years ago, while embarked on the ambitious task of defining myself as a writer, I actually came up with a motto—a kind of coda that I crafted into a carefully designed logo and plastered all over what I planned to be stationery. I was ambitious, but the truth is that I was inventing a narrative for myself as a writer. I felt the need to do [...] by Kwame Dawes