Pledging Allegiance to Poetry October 3, 2009: school-- take out the “sh” and it’s cool Starting is often hardest – the first gesture determines so much of what follows. This is true for poems, for personal introductions, even for blog posts! It’s also true when thinking about the school day. At my school, like so many others, the day officially commences with a student [...] by John S. O'Connor

Howdy October 3, 2009: (more...) by Anselm Berrigan

Yoga for Losers Part 1 October 3, 2009: The following is the first of two parts of a keynote I gave at the Advancing Feminist Poetics Conference at CUNY last week... I have a bunch of things I’ve been reflecting on lately and I wonder what kind of keynote they’ll make. Generally I’m happiest with the off the cuff remarks which are so often planned. I have a number of things and [...] by Eileen Myles

Children’s Poetry Events October 3, 2009: The Poetry Foundation cordially invites all kids and grown-ups to the following events with our Children’s Poet Laureates, past and present: (more...) by Poetry Foundation

Adrian Castro, ‘Handling Destiny’ (Coffee House Press, 2009) October 2, 2009: [caption id="attachment_5518" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Photo by Pedro Portal"][/caption] Adrian Castro's latest collection, Handling Destiny (Coffee House, 2009), includes the poem, "Itutu Sankófa 2003," written for the memory of the Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist Ramon "Mongo" Santamaria. In this poem, Castro writes, "You keep [...] by Barbara Jane Reyes

Jeff October 1, 2009: by Melissa Friedling

Welcome Thy Hallucinator October 1, 2009: "Don't bother," said the tiny, weary voice in my head when I first read the invite to blog for the Poetry Foundation. "Only linguisticons and master craftswomen of the word are welcome there, not actresses who write poetry.  Metaphor aficionados and such.  Look at you, spell-checking the word 'aficionado' and correcting it.   You can't even [...] by Amber Tamblyn

Fall and All October 1, 2009: Fall is here, which means ponderous Hollywood movies, funky potpourri, [W]ild [T]urkey, and of course, new bloggers on Harriet! Today, we say our goodbyes to Joel Brouwer, Rebecca Wolff, and Eileen Myles.  They've done a wonderful job here on the blog, and we hope they'll come back from time to time to share a thought or two.  From [...] by Travis Nichols