Kanye West’s new poem July 28, 2010: Chicago rap superstar Kanye West introduced a couple of new songs at the Facebook hq (well, yeah, but that's just how it is).  Here's one called "Mamma's Boyfriends" that he introduced to that blonde lady in the front row by saying it's "more of a poem." (audio NSFW): via MTV UK by Poetry News

Money, Time, Linda Gregg July 28, 2010: Poet Linda Gregg has long held the conviction that great poetry emerges from a lived life. When she won the Jackson Poetry Prize last year, an award that honors an exceptional poet deserving of wider recognition, the prize gave her what Virginia Woolf had asked for on behalf of all women long ago: money, a place of her own, and the freedom to [...] by Poetry News

Natasha Trethewey tries to go beyond Katrina July 27, 2010: For Natasha Trethewey, a post-Katrina visit to her hometown of North Gulfport, Mississippi, became the impetus for a powerful multimedia project that combines verse and photography. That project is called “Congregation” and it's the second installment in the Virginia Quarterly Review and Studio 360 collaboration Beyond Katrina: A [...] by Harriet Staff

The poetry of missed connections July 27, 2010: Your eyes locked. There were sparks. But alas, it was too late. The next morning, you turned to Craiglist’s missed connections for help, thinking you’re the only one poking around online trying to find that fetching lad or lass you from last night “Ships that pass is a “collection of fake, imagined, and literary missed connections [...] by Harriet Staff

Holzer and Szymborska in a Boston poetry projection July 27, 2010: What happens when the innovative mind of trailblazing conceptual artist Jenny Holzer merges with the poetry of Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska? You get the façade of Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art plastered with projections of poems that have the power to "stir and seduce" an unassuming public. via the Boston Globe: [...] by Poetry News

The punk poet’s not dead July 27, 2010: Is there anything John Cooper Clarke hasn’t done? The so-called “godfather of British performance poetry” has toured with the Sex Pistols and Elvis Costello, released six albums, and published a poetry collection. But that was two decades ago. So where has he been for twenty years?   The Daily Telegraph reports on his disappearance from [...] by Poetry News

Merwin’s secret garden July 27, 2010: How will our newest poet laureate reconcile his penchant for a private life with the very public position he’s just inherited?  Merwin doesn’t see it as a conflict of interests; he might be private, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind. It’s well known that he’s championed environmental issues and been in opposition to war long before [...] by Poetry News

The Tweetless Poet July 27, 2010: After Billy Collins softly lambasted e-readers, it seemed like poetry and technology were doomed to an unhappy marriage. Not so, according to Sandra Beasley, who offers an insightful critique on technology and poetry in an interview with Nic Sebastian of the poetry blog “Very like a whale.” Beasley explains why she doesn’t Tweet [...] by Harriet Staff

Kaleidoscope identity poetry July 26, 2010: In an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, Thomas Sayers Ellis explains the title of second collection, Skin, Inc.: Identity Repair Poems. He also discusses his tribute poems to James Brown and Michael Jackson, how he handles stereotypes about black poetry, and what he means by “literary time travel.”   From Publisher’s Weekly: I [...] by Harriet Staff

Sad sack poetry July 26, 2010: Kristen Hoggart was perhaps an unusual child: she enjoyed reciting somber, melancholy poetry from the tender age of six. So what is it about sad poems that resonates with Hoggart? In this essay at the Smart Set, Hoggart explains why poems filled with sadness “bring the tribe together” and make her feel connected. This eternal truth was [...] by Poetry News