Poetry advice from “Kate” May 14, 2010: Over on the Bookmans Entertainment Exchange, some advice on how to read a poem: It is embarrassing to admit I've spent most of my adult life reading, writing, and publishing poetry. Poets are overly emotional, silly, melodramatic. They are either junk addicts who write about crashing cars, or starry-eyed idealists who spend the day staring at [...] by Harriet Staff

The Poetry Society salutes Daniel Halpern May 14, 2010: On the Poetry Society's blog, Alice Quinn reports on her night spent celebrating the influential poet and editor: Last Thursday May 6th, the Poetry Society of America joined forces with the Academy of American poets and NYU's Creative Writing Program to honor Daniel Halpern on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the Ecco [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetry Inside Out May 14, 2010: The Center for the Art of Translation spotlights Andrea Lingenfelter, who has helped students in the Bay Area translate Chinese poetry into "concrete poetry": Poetry Inside Out has been offering Spanish-English poetry translation workshops to students in the Bay Area and beyond. The Center for the Art of Translation had long wanted to add [...] by Harriet Staff

The New Yorker profiles Rae Armantrout May 14, 2010: Dan Chiasson says Armantrout is "the most genuinely experimental poet to get the Pulitzer since John Ashbery won the triple crown in 1976": When the announcement for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry is made, it’s news. But, inside the bubble of the poetry world, it doesn’t feel noteworthy. Things were different this year. The winner was Rae [...] by Harriet Staff

This week’s best sellers: the opposite of an e-reader May 13, 2010: Anne Carson’s art book elegy, Nox, reaches the number 1 spot on the contemporary best seller list this week. The book, which Sam Anderson of New York Magazine called “the opposite of an e-reader” due to its unwieldy accordion-style pages, beats out best seller stalwarts Billy Collins, Kay Ryan, Mary Oliver, and Robert Hass. Hass—whose new [...] by Poetry Foundation

At home with T.S. Eliot May 13, 2010: The Times Literary Supplement reviews the letters (and marriage) of T.S. Eliot: These letters are awash with complaints, mostly nervous – “neuralgia”, “neuritis”, “nerve-storms” – but also, among others, hemicranial migraine, anaemia, toothache, trouble with “glands”, malnutrition and “suppressed influenza”. Husband and [...] by Harriet Staff

Pinsky and Springsteen, a comparison May 13, 2010: The LA Times investigates the connections between "Glory Days" and "Glory": Last week, Bruce Springsteen appeared with former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. For more than two hours, the two performed together, Springsteen reciting some of Pinksy's poetry, and Pinsky, at one point, singing [...] by Harriet Staff

James Franco: thinking about Spencer Reece, reading Mark Doty May 13, 2010: So the actor/writer/impresario says to Screen Comment: Is “The Clerk’s Tale” a defeatist poem? Are we isolated and lonely according to Reece? JF - I don’t think it’s defeatist. Spencer Reece worked for Brooks Brothers for thirteen years. I think some of that time was a dark period for him. He said his poetry was rejected over [...] by Poetry News

Remembering Rane Arroyo May 13, 2010: The Toledo Free Press remembers celebrated Latino poet Rane Arroyo: Rane Arroyo, a poet and UT creative writing professor, died May 7 of a cerebral hemorrhage. “His death is a great tragedy and loss for poetry and Puerto Rican literature in the United States,” said Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, a Latino studies and Spanish professor at [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetry of the streets May 13, 2010: Minnesota Public Radio announces the winners of the third annual twin cities sidewalk poetry contest: Poetry is alive and well on the streets of St. Paul. The Sidewalk Poetry Project, now in its third year, invites community members to submit their poetry. Those poems selected by a judging panel are then stamped into new sidewalks around the [...] by Poetry News