Jim Morrison Poetry Burlesque September 25, 2008: Last night, riding the #14 bus home from a press screening of the teen virginity burlesque “Sex Drive,” I thought about the poetics of evasion. How trying not to say something directly often creates more meaning (and wonderfully weird language) than just saying it outright. It’s poetics 101 for the most part, but I’m always up for a [...] by Travis Nichols

BUKOWSKI VS. THOMAS September 25, 2008: The writing giants of the 20th Century, largely male, seemed disproportionately to be alcoholics and substance abusers (Fitzgerald, Kerouac, etc.)—men seeking easy, if not permanent, access to The Muse. I haven’t heard the phrase “a man who can hold his liquor,” said with admiration lately—testimony to campaigns against drunk drivers and [...] by Wanda Coleman

[priv-uh-lij, priv-lij] September 24, 2008: I had the privilege of speaking to “underprivileged” high school students in El Paso’s lower valley last Friday. My Arte Publico Press contact—when I asked what I was supposed to talk about—said that I should just read my poems and share my “personal story,” The librarians and counselors who invited me to speak hoped students would [...] by Javier Huerta

THE REAL TRICKLE TRICKLING DOWN September 24, 2008: I’ve always heard it said that Americans have to be fairly satisfied with their lot in general before they support the fine arts, especially dance and poetry. When economic times are particularly rough (think WPA), the presumably suffering artist suffers all the more. As Wall Street currently quakes, and the banking and mortgage giants tumble, [...] by Wanda Coleman

The Lives of Others September 23, 2008: Javier Huerta's excellent post on privilege and the bilingual pun (above) prompts me to share this note. On Monday, I received an email from KL, someone I know who teaches at a detention facility in Virginia, asking me to translate something that a girl in her class had written in Spanish. KL teaches high school-age children who are waiting for [...] by Forrest Gander

Lo Fi September 23, 2008: Al night by the rosë, rosë, Al night bi the rose I lay, Dorst Ich nought the rosë stele, And yet I bar the flour away. Anon (14th century) by Lavinia Greenlaw

Anniversary of Pablo Neruda’s Death September 23, 2008: Today is the anniversary of Pablo Neruda’s death in 1973. In homage, I’m posting this poem, “Ode with a Lament.”* Written in the early thirties in Spain, it probably alludes to Neruda’s daughter Malva who was born with hydrocephaly and Down’s syndrome. I find the last stanza particularly moving in its depiction of the emotionally [...] by Forrest Gander

A RETRO ROGUE RECOLLECTION September 22, 2008: Among the character-building chores my parents assigned me (I spent prom night doing the ironing), I look back on “watering the lawn” with a relaxed fondness. Mother’s childhood gardens, the talk of Hennessey, Oklahoma in the 1930s—she wanted me to know how to weed, plant bulbs, and learn what she knew of “reading the weather.” Her [...] by Wanda Coleman

Pompeii and Circumstance September 20, 2008: OK, who saw the letter to the editor in the October issue of Harper's about Charles Bernstein's poem, "Pompeii?" And who gets to put the iron in irony? (more...) by Don Share

Singer-Songwriters and Poetry September 20, 2008: Any of us can get into a good fight arguing over singer-songwriters whose poetic lyrics we champion. And some singers, Leonard Cohen or David Berman (of The Silver Jews) for instance, publish books of their own poetry. In the seventies, a number of singer-songwriters made references to poets: Bob Dylan to Dante, Verlaine & Rimbaud, Patti Smith [...] by Forrest Gander