Whitman in the grass July 26, 2010: When Karen Long abandoned her desk for a $3 copy of Leaves of Grass, she got more than her money's worth: she describes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer how the Whitman--along with C.K. Williams--still had the power to move her tears. So why not carve out an hour or two for Whitman before summer is over? He'd want you to relax and watch the grass [...] by Harriet Staff

The poetry of menudo July 26, 2010: In Sasha Pimentel Chacón's Insides She Swallowed the award-winning poet debuts a complex palate of emotions and ideas in this her first collection. According to Marion Rohrleitner in the El Paso Times Chacón's work nourishes the soul the way menudo (cooked intestines) nourishing the body: it might not always be easy to look what's inside, but [...] by Harriet Staff

Howl still sells July 26, 2010: Craig Morgan Teicher at the Publishers Weekly blog has news for the poetry sales poor-mouthers: Who says people don’t read poetry? Certainly not the best minds of any generation. Allen Ginsbeg’s seminal book Howl and other Poems is still selling like crazy–about 25,000 copies per year, with over a million printed since the book’s [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetry and Orlando July 26, 2010: In 1992, Sally Potter directed a then mostly-unknown young actress named Tilda Swinton in a singular adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando. The film became a feminist and literary touchstone, and now, 18 years, later it's being re-released for a new generation of curious watchers. Fitting for a film about time, resurrection, and artistic [...] by Harriet Staff

Todd Boss goes video July 24, 2010: A poetry video might sound incongruous, but for poet Todd Boss, it’s the perfect mash-up of mediums. “The God of Our Farm Had Blades,” is a motionpoem, a miniature film based on a poem from Overtures on an Overturned Piano, Boss’s second book due out next year. According to Boss's website, Motionpoems combine spoken word with animation to [...] by Harriet Staff

From the slammer to slam: how one man went from the penitentiary to poetry and back again July 23, 2010: Norman Porter Jr. - aka Jacob “J.J.” Jameson – was convicted of murder in Massachusetts 20 years ago before he escaped from jail and fled to Chicago. Here, he lived under an alias as a poet and activist for over two decades until his re-arrest in 2005. Today, CBS news reported that the Massachusetts Supreme Court rejected his appeal, [...] by Poetry News

A primer for starving artists July 23, 2010: On her blog, poet Barbara Jane Reyes reflects on a recent talk at the San Francisco Public Library by Diane Di Prima entitled “Making it Happen.” In her "Report Back," Reyes recounts Di Prima's take on what it was like to self-publish long before the ease of the Internet, and her advice to aspiring writers: start where you are. Publish [...] by Harriet Staff

Kate Hall at the Griffin Awards July 23, 2010: See all the Griffin Poetry Prize videos here. by Poetry News

Indie press poetry roundup in the NYT July 23, 2010: It's rare for the New York Times books section to cover poetry, even rarer to cover poetry from small or independent presses. Whether this is from long-standing ties between big publishers and NYT editors, an advertising payola system that excludes smaller non-profits, or simply the fact that a lot of indie presses aren't in New York pressing the [...] by Harriet Staff

Allen Ginsberg behind the lens July 23, 2010: Though Allen Ginsberg earned fame from his poetry, he didn’t make much money. In the 80’s, when a financially-strapped Ginsberg rediscovered a plethora of photographs he’d taken of his beat poet friends (many of whom were also lovers), he put the pictures to work for him. The aging poet presented lectures on “Snapshot Poetics” and [...] by Poetry News