Hayden Carruth (1921-2008) September 30, 2008: I join with all the staff and board at the Poetry Foundation and Poetry magazine in expressing my profound sorrow at the death of Hayden Carruth, who died last night at his home in Munnsville, New York. His contribution to American poetry and to the life of this country was extraordinary. Graves by Hayden Carruth Both of us had been close to [...] by Emily Warn

Read the foreign and the dead September 30, 2008: I grew up in a house full of books and made my way through the shelves. There wasn’t much else to do. I didn’t have a clue who anyone was, so I read poems not poets. Those who formed me were from mythical places: Eastern Europe (lurking behind the Iron Curtain) and America (lurking behind the album cover and cinema screen). They took me [...] by Lavinia Greenlaw

O LITERATI, GET UP! September 29, 2008: (more...) by Olena Kalytiak Davis

POETRY + MUSIC = INSPIRATION? September 29, 2008: Remember that scene from “The Big Sleep,” where Bacall (a sizzling Sternwood) purrs “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine,” at Bogart’s Marlowe? Jazz aficionados looking closely, will notice that the piano man bears an uncanny resemblance to Mel Powell (1923-1998), boy genius who played with Benny Goodman in the 40s. We chanced to meet Powell [...] by Wanda Coleman

Into the Mouths of Volcanoes September 29, 2008: In responsive commentaries on my earlier note memorializing the death of Pablo Neruda, several people mentioned the living Chilean poet Raúl Zurita. During the Pinochet regime, Zurita had the guts to bulldoze a poem into the sand of the Atacama Desert. It read ni pena ni miedo: neither pain nor fear.
 Long ago, it would have been obliterated [...] by Forrest Gander

Empire in Funkville September 29, 2008: "The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetic nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem [...] One sees it must indeed own the riches of the summer and winter, and need never be bankrupt while corn grows from the ground or the orchards drop apples or the bays contain fish or [...] by Linh Dinh

Political Poetry: An Epistolary Conversation September 29, 2008: Two very different new books, one by Naomi Shihab Nye and one by Kent Johnson, turn epistolary toward remarkably similar and fierce political ends. (more...) by Forrest Gander

¡Maldición! September 27, 2008: In our daily language there is a group of words that are prohibited, secret, without clear meanings. We confide the impressions of our most brutal or subtle emotions and reactions to their magical ambiguities. They are evil words, and we utter them in a loud voice only when we are not in control of ourselves. In a confused way they reflect our [...] by Javier Huerta

ARE POETS BAD MOTHERFUCKERS????????? September 26, 2008: wow and well--and hey forrest and travis--i see that while i have been in fucking TRIAL and trying to buy a fucking HOUSE and practicing spelling lists (SYNAGOGUE) and reading (and suffering from) INDIGNATION with (not from/toward) my CHILDREN --and, yes, Mr. Knott, despite my current lack of poetry um, PRODUCT, i actually do FEEL that i [...] by Olena Kalytiak Davis

Oxford: The Candidates and Faulkner September 26, 2008: To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi. William Faulkner So both candidates have now confirmed they will be at tonight’s debate, which means that all eyes will be on Oxford, Mississippi. I am hoping that each of the candidates will take photographs of themselves sitting on the bench next to William Faulkner. [...] by Javier Huerta