A broader question December 31, 2008: G. And what have you found in Iceland? C. What have we found? More copy, more surface, Vignettes as they call them, dead flowers in an album – The harmoniums in the farms, the fine-bread and pancakes, The pot of ivy trained across the window, Children in gumboots, girls in black berets. R. And dead craters and angled crags. Louis MacNeice, [...] by Lavinia Greenlaw

Harriet Flarf December 30, 2008: This post is partly what it's like being one of Harriet's ventriloquists. It splices text from Harriet bloggers, commenters, and anonymous robots who deposit semi-truck loads of SPAM for us to delete. Bloggers and commenters from whom I've pilfered include Kenneth Goldsmith, Reginald Shepherd, A.E. Stallings, Ange Mlinko, Javier Huerta, and Bill [...] by Emily Warn

FOR POETRY LOVERS WHO DIG THE MANIC December 28, 2008: This favorite link may be old news to some, but I was delighted to be hipped to the Caroline Bergvall Dante poem, "Via", sent courtesy Dr. Natasha Saje at Westminster College, Utah. Received with pleasure. Enjoy…. Here's the link: http://mediamogul.seas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Bergvall/Bergvall-Caroline-Via-2004.mp3 by Wanda Coleman

Recessive festive December 21, 2008: by Lavinia Greenlaw

SINGING THE DIGITAL-AGE BLUES December 20, 2008: Coming from the hard-knock world of secretaries and billing clerks, grappling with techno-advances in the workplace once seemed like a song. The turnover for “pink-collar workers” had accelerated for decades, starting with electronic typewriters. A gaggle of complaints flew up with each change, shocks coming every five years, then two, then [...] by Wanda Coleman

Some Favorite Books of 2008 December 19, 2008: A few of these books were published last year, and there are definitely others that we'd like to point out to readers, but for the sake of brevity, we limited our picks. We hope you'll fill in the gaps in the comment stream. POETRY FOUNDATION STAFF PICKS CHRISTIAN WIMAN Creatures of a Day Reginald Gibbons Louisiana State Univeristy Press ISBN: [...] by Emily Warn

We Baaad December 19, 2008: Before the internet, writers interested in weird, amateurish or specialized lingos had to scrounge for them in used book stores and porn shops. There was no Google to barf verbiage onto your lap. I used to spend hundreds on magazines with names like Over Fifty and Fabulous, K.O., Soldiers of Fortune, Flying Saucer Digest and Teen. Bad, bumbling [...] by Linh Dinh

HOPE ALL-AMERICAN GHETTO STYLE December 19, 2008: Audrey called a week ago today. I went for family visit. We have been friends for forty years—a friendship that has corresponded to my literary pursuits. She has always appreciated my quest, if not so inclined. Like involuntary saints, we are survivors, having spent our lives in America’s unforgiving economic underclass—former long-time [...] by Wanda Coleman

Elizabeth Alexander to Read at Obama Inauguration December 17, 2008: Yale professor and celebrated poet of memory and race Elizabeth Alexander has been selected to read as part of Barack Obama's Inaugural Ceremony in January. Alexander speculated on poets in the age of Obama in the Poetry Foundation's Obamapoetics podcast last November, and now she joins Robert Frost, Miller Williams, and Maya Angelou on the [...] by Travis Nichols

2008 December 17, 2008: An eventful year of petty vandalism, monumental publication, and pardons seven hundred years in the making is finally coming to a close. And while there may be some big stories forthcoming in the next few weeks (congrats Elizabeth Alexander!), I’m using my authority as Harriet blogger to put the lid on this sucker here and now. So, in no [...] by Travis Nichols