Poetry in Motion: A Slightly Awkward Attempt to Figure Out What This Term Means (and Thus Maybe Not the Best Example of the Term); Also, an Excuse to Quote Passages of Poetry about Baseball March 31, 2009: Occasionally, when we admire a thing – a particular pastime, say – we claim there’s a certain “poetry” to it. If the thing’s a moving body then we might call it “poetry in motion.” For example, we sometimes claim there’s a certain “poetry” to baseball. Or we describe one of its players as “poetry in motion.” But what [...] by Jason Guriel

Trochees: An African American Tradition March 30, 2009: Countee Cullen In a recent blog for Lemon Hound on Claude McKay, one topic that came up was the importance of the trochaic undercurrent in McKay’s famous sonnet “If We Must Die.” I wrote that the power of this rhythm for McKay is no surprise in the context of African American poetics, since the trochaic meter has been established as a [...] by Annie Finch

This Concept Makes Me Feel March 30, 2009: Vanessa Place and Robert Fitterman have a new collaborative book due out from the fashionistas at Ugly Duckling Presse this May called Notes on Conceptualisms. To celebrate the book's launch, they're hosting an evening of performances at The Kitchen in NYC tomorrow night, an event featuring "an array of conceptualists: Jen Bervin, Nada Gordon, [...] by Travis Nichols

Take the Poetry Poll and Pass it On March 27, 2009: In response to Travis's last post, Iain says: "I'd be very interested in a poll that asked people what stereotypes they associate with poetry and poets." So would we. So let's ask that question far and wide: What stereotypes do you associate with poetry and poets? by Catherine Halley

Some Thoughts On Poetry Readings: Part Three (Legendary Gigs) March 26, 2009: I was there at the Six Gallery in San Francisco where Allen Ginsberg read Howl for the first time. (I suggested the venue.) (more...) by Jason Guriel

Is this the end for poetry? March 26, 2009: Poetry is in trouble. At least according to the NEA and Newsweek. "In 2008, just 8.3 percent of adults had read any poetry in the preceding 12 months," Marc Bain writes in an online article this week, citing January's NEA report "Reading on the Rise." "That figure was 12.1 percent in 2002, and in 1992, it was 17.1 percent, meaning the number of [...] by Travis Nichols

My Mississippi Spring March 26, 2009: I am on my way to Oxford, Mississippi where I will be reading on Friday. I’ve never been to Mississippi before, and though all sorts of poems and stories and songs come to mind when I think of Mississippi, because I realize it will be springtime in the South and because I love springtime in the South (the pear trees, the cherries, the [...] by Camille Dungy

Poetry in Notion: What Does That Word Mean Anyway? March 25, 2009: In last week's "Ideas" section of the Boston Globe (a section which, btw, is alone worth the price of that excellent newspaper), I came across two references to poetry. One, not surprisingly, had absolutely nothing to do with poetry. It appeared in a review of a biography of novelist Don Barthelme, whom I recall playing in the creative writing [...] by Annie Finch

Happy Birthday!!! March 25, 2009: Some folks didn't care for our recent commemoration of the centennial of Futurism - like we were endorsing it somehow, sheesh! Well, it's time to celebrate yet another birthday. (more...) by Don Share

Fish’s Night Song March 24, 2009: Here’s Christian Morgenstern’s (1871-1914) “Fisches Nachtgesang,” or, “Fish’s Night Song.” It’s one more example of American parochialism that nowhere in Bartlett’s Quotations is a line of this poem reproduced. by Daisy Fried