All Night, He Was a New American, Part Two February 25, 2008: This is the second of three posts devoted to the seminal Donald M. Allen anthology The New American Poetry. This post deals with the question of the "New American Poets"'s political commitments, or lack of same. Some of the poets gathered by Allen did indeed seek to transform society. Some sought to transform consciousness. Some sought to [...] by Reginald Shepherd

Night Rhythm February 25, 2008: Mention of "The Sheep Child" here has called to mind all kinds of recollections from the Atlanta of my youth, in which, among literary circles at least, James Dickey loomed large. Everyone had a tale, either of generous encouragement, or booze-infused arrogance and aggression--sometimes both. I myself had witnessed his (probably inebriate) [...] by A.E. Stallings

Miltonheads Unite! February 24, 2008: A month or so ago, Sophie Gee wrote approvingly in the New York Times Book Review about the movie adaptation of Beowulf and about Philip Pullman’s use of Paradise Lost for his His Dark Materials series. I haven’t seen the former or read the latter but think I’d probably like both. Gee calls both classic texts “virtually unreadable.” [...] by Daisy Fried

Jumping the Snark February 23, 2008: R. Kikuo Johnson's graphic cover version of "Recitative" (by Harriet's own A.E. Stallings) appeared recently as part of this site's "Poem as Comic Strip" series. One of the commenters, Mahendra Singh, included a link... (more...) by Ed Park

All Night, He Was a New American, Part One February 22, 2008: It's taken me a while to post this piece, as I've been beset by chemotherapy side effects of my colon cancer treatment, especially a debilitating bout of chemo fatigue, and a nasty cold on top of this, which just seems unfair. But when has my life ever been fair? Much of what poet and critic Joshua Corey understatedly calls the “remarkable storm [...] by Reginald Shepherd

Late Review 03 February 22, 2008: ----------------- "A new weapon in the war against explosions: EXPLOSIONS! Hearing aids may explode!" from "Watch for Exploding Cells" in Fake Math by Ryan Fitzpatrick Snare Books, 2007 ----------------- (more...) by Christian Bök

The University of Arizona Poetry Center February 22, 2008: Those who have enjoyed Poets House’s old venue on Spring Street (I have yet to make it to the new location down by Battery Park—but I’ll get there!) understand the overwhelming energy that comes from being surrounded by books and books of poetry. At any bookstore (except at Open Books, of course) poetry gets a slim reception, almost as an [...] by Rigoberto González

Lightning and Lightning Bug February 22, 2008: I have been thinking about diction lately—the quandaries of word choice. Maybe it is partly to do with my 3-and-a-half–year old son’s vocabulary becoming richer and more sophisticated, and one finds oneself pushing him gently towards one word choice over another, though both might be more or less intelligible in context. Diction is often [...] by A.E. Stallings

Late Review 02 February 20, 2008: ----------------- "juicy baby rubber fist red jawbreaker gluts opera-mouthed palate heaves lip popper sloppy baby gurgle slick gloam limpid" "Ballgag" in Thumbscrews by Natalie Zina Walschots Snare Books, 2007 ----------------- (more...) by Christian Bök

Wednesday Shout Out February 20, 2008: It’s tempting to invoke the phrase “Oedipus complex” in discussing this book by debut poet James Allen Hall; Mother (with a capital M), mythic figure, source of many glorious beginnings (and a few tragic endings), and indeed the defining lens to the worlds of the imagination and reality, is an unavoidable muse, an inescapable word uttered [...] by Rigoberto González