taxidermy fiesta of revolutionary aquatic holidays lost August 17, 2009: I never thought about hurricanes very much until I moved to Alabama. Now I think about them a lot. Today's an important hurricane day: at 5:00 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time, Tropical Storm Bill became Hurricane Bill, the first hurricane of the 2009 season. And, notably, today is the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille's landfall near Bay St. [...] by Joel Brouwer

San Francisco Poet Al Robles (1930-2009) August 16, 2009: Hello all, this is my first post to the Harriet blog, so let me very briefly introduce myself. I'm Barbara Jane Reyes, and I blog regularly at Poeta y Diwata. I am also a contributing blogger for Hyphen magazine, where I feature Asian/Pacific Islander American authors published by small presses. I'm an Oakland-based poet, and a long time San [...] by Barbara Jane Reyes

Political Economy August 16, 2009: I’ve really taken my time having a go at Sean Patrick Hill’s review in Rain Taxi of State of the Union, the political anthology published by wave books. I know there’s been a tempest here about nepotism in the poetry world which I think is exactly as serious as nepotism anywhere else. But who is Nepot. Why do we name a vice after him. Most [...] by Eileen Myles

These Summer Sundays August 13, 2009: Summer is at it again—flying right by me. I’ve been so busy doing my job (can you imagine?) that I haven’t had time to properly enjoy this short-lived staff writer opportunity, and now, with my end date as PF media assistant closing in fast, it’s as if I’m already gone (cue The Eagles). So goodbye for now but not for good, [...] by Katie Hartsock

This Science Fair, My Prison August 12, 2009: August is the month for star-gazing, and what better way to prepare for the Perseids than to spend part of this horrid sun-lit day reading about the great Romantic scientists?  In her new article, "Keats in Space," Molly Young explains that the work of William and Caroline Herschel, Sir Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy, and Mungo Park all took [...] by Travis Nichols

Austen, Marvin, Homeopathy, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E August 12, 2009: On my way to work this morn listening to local NPR interviewing the woman who wrote this book called Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (and maybe now its sequel). She was rattling on in a very professional way and then she described a doctor's approach in her novel as very "homeopathic," in that he/she wasn't just totally committed to [...] by Rebecca Wolff

Milhous as King of the Ghosts, by Rachel Loden August 10, 2009: Now and then I think I have something of use to say about poetry as a category, but generally I'm much happier talking about poems. What attracted me to poetry in the first place, I think, was its prizing of instances, its radical recognition that the purse seine of theory inevitably lets slip millions of particular minnows. (And, to tax the [...] by Joel Brouwer

The Tortoise And The Hare: Dale Smith and Kenneth Goldsmith Parse Slow and Fast Poetries August 10, 2009: Dale Smith: As a poet I’m invested in the history of poetics, its long lore, and its entanglements with philosophy, rhetoric, politics, and other modes of thought and conversation. For me, how we relate to history — our various understandings of it — is essential. Kenneth Goldsmith: Any notion of history has been leveled by the [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

Sagacity is Bloggody August 10, 2009: I suppose all possible puns/infusions/scrap-heaping has already been done with the word "blog" but I still find it amusing to try to work it into every post. This one is totally inscrutable. Anyone who guesses what I'm going for wins . . . a free subscription to Fence. That's what I have to offer, it seems. I've been reveling in the freaky cold [...] by Rebecca Wolff

Do Non-Poets Buy Poetry Books? August 10, 2009: Do you know any non-poets who buy poetry books? If so, what books do they buy? Anthologies? Books by particular poets? What influences their decision to buy those books? I ask because there was an interesting discussion going on about this over at WOMPO--the Women's Poetry Listserve. by Catherine Halley