Some Thoughts On Poetry Readings: Part One (A Lot of Less Is More) March 16, 2009: Recently, I agreed to take part in an upcoming poetry reading with an economy-sized premise: twenty poets read their poetry but for only five minutes each. A few years ago, a music critic, assessing The Magnetic Fields’ triple LP 69 Love Songs, assured readers of the review that the 69 songs are brief: “nearly all under three minutes: [...] by Jason Guriel

Home Town Poets March 16, 2009: I had a conversation yesterday afternoon about how deeply Richmond, VA honors the memory of Larry Levis. The talk of Levis in Richmond got me thinking about the place of poets in various cities’ lore. Amherst, MA has Emily Dickinson, and several cities--including Charlottesville, Richmond, and Baltimore--claim Edgar Allen Poe. Carl Sandburg [...] by Camille Dungy

Listening to Poetry March 14, 2009: Listening—openly taking in the words of another being, while allowing the words to remain in the other being's voice—is a simple and powerful secret, one that life reminds me of in ubiquitous ways. Parenting, for example. Listening to my children, I am amazed at the insights and solutions they have to offer, steadily ignored or discounted as [...] by Annie Finch

Herrera and Kleinzahler Share 2008 NBCC Poetry Prize March 13, 2009: The Poetry Foundation would like to congratulate Juan Felipe Herrera and August Kleinzahler whose books "Half of the World in Light" and "Sleeping It Off in Rapid City" have both won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle award in poetry. This is the first time two poets have shared the award. Learn how Herrera found his voice as a poet, and read [...] by Catherine Halley

Everybody Gets to Go to the Moon: An Extended Letter for the Print Magazine which I’ll Just Post Here March 12, 2009: Until I read A.E. Stallings’ recent piece on rhyme for the print magazine – a future-classic-of-poetics-masquerading-as-mock-manifesto? – I was living, unbeknownst to me, a slightly complacent life. I now realize I was prepared to let the American songwriter Jimmy Webb enjoy the last word on a tired rhyme – moon/June/spoon – a rhyme I [...] by Jason Guriel

The Line: Here March 12, 2009: Three of the grand mysteries: What makes a poem? What makes a stanza? What makes a poetic line? James Longenbach opens his most recent book on the craft of writing with this quote from George Oppen: “The meaning of a poem is in the cadences and the shape of the lines and the pulse of the thought which is given by those lines.” For the [...] by Camille Dungy

Poets House Tribute to Reginald Shepherd (1963-2008) March 11, 2009: I was so happy to see that Poets House in New York is holding a tribute to poet, critic, teacher, and former Harriet blogger Reginald Shepherd tomorrow night, Thursday, March 12th at 7:00 pm. Those of you in New York might want to go. If you can't get to Poets House, you can read his Harriet blog posts, a few of his poems, and a short bio here. by Catherine Halley

Futurism and the New Manifesto Reading: MOMA, February 20, 2009 March 9, 2009: a decantering of steely ghosts, and pulse-check at the heel of a dying elephant 11:00 am Klammer in hand, hazpashing the music skrand, thuda-reatening to crip apart a Miró on the sfwall (the sfwall as a sfwall on the sfwall a sfwall after all), srkelted out “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” in tones unkrimmen! With hizzzzzz braulding [...] by Rodrigo Toscano

Wernicke’s area March 8, 2009: Sometimes I wonder how it would go if I had to chose between writing and reading. It’s one of those desert island questions. More than travel, more than interpersonal relations, more than food, sex, sleep, these are the two loves of my life. They are what connect me to myself, and connect my self to the world. Though I am increasingly wary of [...] by Martin Earl

Marina Tsvetaeva and the Poet-Pair March 8, 2009: A cab driver vending at a Russian street fair on the lower east side of NYC once sold me a little leather notebook with a woman's head engraved on the cover. "Who is that?" I asked. "Famous Russian poet," he answered. "Akhmatova?" "No, no! Greater!," he grinned. Then he spelled her name for me, Marina Tsvetaeva, my first entry in that [...] by Annie Finch