Roller Derby Haiku April 22, 2009: Roller derby haiku. They call it "girl-powered poetry inspired by derby queens." We call it a wonder we made it through high school without this stuff. Some of our favorite examples: Eva at the line zombie on zombie action skating corpses fly and: crushin' on U, Doll gotsta let UR feelings show brutal valentine Brutal valentine, [...] by Catherine Halley

The Wide Ecstasies of Influence April 22, 2009: Jason Guriel's recent post about acknowledgments, and all the places its comments spun, got me thinking about acknowledgments in a deeper sense.  When we read a book of poetry, aren't we just as alert to the unspoken acknowledgments--the poetic influences that surround a book like a halo, like roots, like an attic—as to those written on the [...] by Annie Finch

Some Practical Advice for Young Poets Considering Exile: Part 2 April 21, 2009: The catalyst, the fuse, call it what you like, whatever it is that sets sweeping change into motion, often comes in the form of epiphany, the sudden realization that things are not what they had seemed to be a moment earlier. (more...) by Martin Earl

A Quote from Simone Weil . . . April 20, 2009: (more...) by Annie Finch

What One Can Learn About Poets from Their Acknowledgements: Some Rickety Conclusions April 19, 2009: They appear every few years, when poets put out new collections, which is to say: they appear infrequently. Indeed, they often resemble afterthoughts, slipped into the backs of books or shrunk down and very nearly dissolved in the tiny type of copyright pages. And the events they record and acknowledge – the securing of grants, the input of [...] by Jason Guriel

Deborah Digges & Franklin Rosemont, R.I.P. April 17, 2009: (more...) by Travis Nichols

Face Forward: The Poets House Annual Showcase of Poetry Books April 17, 2009: For a poet, in April, in New York, there’s a lot going on!  One of the most exciting National Poetry Month events held every year is the Poets House Annual Showcase of the year’s poetry books.  It’s an astonishing event. This year, at the 17th annual showcase, 2,400 books of poetry are displayed at the Jefferson Market Library on 6th [...] by Annie Finch

Dyslexicon April 16, 2009: (An ode to words removed from the 2008 Oxford Junior Dictionary, a dictionary aimed at children ages 7 to 9, concluding with the newly-added words.) (more...) by Camille Dungy

Is that a poem in your pocket? April 15, 2009: Poetry staff was happy to see Ana Benaroya's e-mail come over the transom with big, beautiful illustrations for us to consider for the cover of the magazine. (See November 2008 for her first appearance and April 2009 for her latest, "Crazy Head.") After perusing her website we found several poetry illos in her pocket that made us fall crazy [...] by Fred Sasaki

Fanny Howe & Ange Mlinko Win 2009 Pegasus Awards April 14, 2009: Please join me and all the Poetry Foundation staff in congratulating Fanny Howe and Ange Mlinko, winners of the sixth annual Pegasus Awards. Howe is the recipient of the 2009 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Established in 1986 and presented annually by the Poetry Foundation to a living U.S. poet whose lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary [...] by Catherine Halley