all-name team January 21, 2008: Poetry is a kind of naming-- the Rilke of the Duino Elegies certainly thought so, and Wallace Stevens, in the wonderful late poem "Local Objects," said that he wanted to give the things in his poetry fresh names, "to keep them from perishing." Naming is a kind of poetry too: or so the news around these parts suggests... examples, elaborations, [...] by Stephen Burt

“What Abstract Art Means To Me” January 21, 2008: Here’s something I have tacked above my desk to which the question of language’s inadequacy is irrelevant. This is Willem DeKooning, from a talk he gave called “What Abstract Art Means to Me,” at a symposium organized by the Museum of Modern Art in 1950 on the occasion of the show “Abstract Art in America.” About twenty-four years ago, [...] by Daisy Fried

“Battlefield” unearthed…and more on Frank Stanford January 21, 2008: I'd love to hear comments from our Harriet bloggers and readers on Ben Ehrenreich's "The Long Goodbye," his epic, beautifully written piece on the work and life of the late Frank Stanford, up now on the Foundation site. (more...) by Ed Park

Celebrity Poetry January 20, 2008: What is it about celebrity poets that rile “serious” writers of poetry? With each new collection of poems by an actor or music recording star, envy mounts as does the high levels of indifference by poets and critics, alike. Such books of poetry are roundly dismissed and ignored by the literati, yet inevitably become bestsellers owing to the [...] by Major Jackson

Translation: Rhyme & Reason January 20, 2008: Some of the lack of boldness in translation in the past fifty years or so has been a lack of technical boldness, of even attempting to get across the meter, rhyme sounds, puns, etc., of the original. After all, free verse represents a rather slim subset of poetry over the millennia. Can all poets of all times and languages really have sounded [...] by A.E. Stallings

Listmania January 19, 2008: At the end of my previous post, in which I listed and briefly discussed some of my favorite books of poetry published in 2007, I promised or threatened that there were more lists to come. I truly do love lists, and once I started making them I found it hard to stop. So here are a couple of other lists pertaining to books of poetry published in [...] by Reginald Shepherd

Random Poetry 03 January 18, 2008: ———————————————— "I have seen old men who, for long periods of time, would hide in the latrines with some metal disks in a forbidden dice cup and feebly mimic the divine disorder." [A sentence quoted from an English version of "The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges.] "T TTTT HTTH TTT THH TTH HTH HHHT TTHHTTT [...] by Christian Bök

more scots, less porn January 18, 2008: We knew that the continuing malaise among independent bookstores (despite success stories in North Carolina, in Minnesota, and elsewhere) has long spelled trouble for literary fiction, which relies on in-store events, loyal customers, and local buzz to move the books that never become bestsellers. Now comes word via an expert in the field that the [...] by Stephen Burt

Add to Cart January 16, 2008: While Professor Stanley Fish argues the lack of relative worth of the Humanities over at the NYTIMES, I thought I would visit a few of my local, online rare books websites to gauge the fair market value of Poetry (Ruth Lilly, notwithstanding), that is, how much hard cash do works of poetry command in the dangerous, clandestine world of literary [...] by Major Jackson

Wednesday Shout Out January 16, 2008: When I came across this book of poems, I was struck by its use of the surreal: “The password is still bird, folded wings unfurling against the damp sides of your mouth.” Jenny Browne crafts her language into imagery that gestures toward optical illusion, where the vehicle and the tenor can switch places without warning. Look closely and [...] by Rigoberto González