Boycott Arizona April 30, 2010: I saved my most personal post for last. (That is me in the center of the photograph, by the way, in my first march during the grape boycotts of California in the early 1970s.) I am joining (and asking you to join) a steadily growing list of writers who are publicly declaring a boycott of Arizona. Until that state reverses its policy of [...] by Rigoberto González

NO COUNTRY FOR ARTISTS AND POETS April 29, 2010: While many other cities are turning abandoned civic sites into cultural havens to attract artists and tourists, Los Angeles is apparently divesting itself of its artists and literary writers. I’ve received several unpleasant new emails within the last 48 hours. They evoke memories of our regional “brain drain” of the 70s. Many artists and [...] by Wanda Coleman

Audacity of Voice: The Poet as Actor, Michael Maglaras’ Hiawatha Marathon, and How I Made my CD April 29, 2010: A good recent podcast in the Poetry Off the Shelf series is called Actors vs. Poets.  Not only does this spirited discussion between Curtis Fox and Don Share feature the recorded voices of Tennyson and Bishop—and a magnificent British actor crooning "April is the cruelest month"—it raises some important questions about the nature and [...] by Annie Finch

Interview with Charles Bernstein (part II) April 29, 2010: The following is the second part of an interview I conducted with Charles Bernstein at his home on March 19th, 2010 about his selected poems, All the Whiskey in Heaven, recently published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (the first part can be linked here at Harriet). In this part of the interview, Bernstein and I continue our discussion about [...] by Thom Donovan

Four Comments about Conceptual Writing April 29, 2010: Kenneth Goldsmith has responded eloquently to naysayers who might object to the principles of Conceptual Literature, doing so through a series of manifestoes here at Harriet—and I hope to add an academic footnote to his many provocations…. (more...) by Christian Bök

POETRY in Kazakhstan April 29, 2010: We were recently contacted by the Innovative University of Eurasia (Kazakhstan), who are in need of English-language books and magazines for their reading programs. We sent them copies of Poetry magazine, copies of a poetry anthology, and a few other things. Above is a photo of the special-needs kids who used these materials in their [...] by Don Share

“the beautiful, needful thing”: in memory of Dr. Dorothy Height April 29, 2010: This morning in the nation's capitol, mourners said farewell to Dr. Dorothy Height, a life-long Civil Rights activist to whom this nation owes a debt of thanks.  Rather than end my blogging stint on Harriet describing some of the revolutionary things that National Poetry Month has allowed this nation and its poets to accomplish, as I had [...] by Camille Dungy

Conceptual Writing [verb, repeat] and Silence April 29, 2010: I think I’m finally beginning to understand Conceptual Writing thanks to Kenneth Goldsmith, who, in his consecutive posts on 4.27 and 4.28, drives home his point by employing the sentence “Conceptual writing [verb]” something like twenty-five times. As conceptual writing’s (oops, sorry, Conceptual Writing’s) spokesperson, Goldsmith uses [...] by Mark Nowak

Shout Out: Urayoán Noel and Pierre Joris, Barzakh April 29, 2010: [caption id="attachment_12561" align="alignnone" width="220" caption="Collage by Alice Notley"][/caption] Who really believes that the abundance and proliferation, the birth of so many new literary journals can be a bad thing? I don't. The more venues for diverse poetries, the better off we all are. One such new journal is Barzakh, a [...] by Barbara Jane Reyes

correction April 28, 2010: In my previous post, I asked—given Rob Fitterman’s direct appropriation of captions taken from photos archived at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum—whether or not Charles Reznikoff might be considered a forerunner of Conceptual poetics, especially given its heavy reliance on strategies of appropriation. (more...) by Alan Gilbert