The Jorie jury August 31, 2010: Over at the Best American Poetry site, Dante Michaux offers thought on Jorie Graham's evolution. He summarizes the analysis of the venerable Vendler, and continues: By recycling the examples that Vendler offers in her study and adding a few others, it is clear that what is significant, or most consequential in Jorie Graham’s work is not [...] by Harriet Staff

Berlin taken by poetry storm August 31, 2010: A rain of poems landed on Berlin on Saturday, dispersed by German and Chilean helicopters with hopes of spreading a message of peace. Poems not bombs! Hopefully Berliners and residents of Berlin were tickled rather than re-traumatized: Lasting for half an hour, the initiative was intended as a protest against war and a message of peace, as [...] by Poetry News

Pier over here August 31, 2010: The Guardian publishes a Bank Holiday special: Vona Groarke's "The Pier." It's a happy poem, which critic Carol Rumens considers nearly a paradox. An excerpt: Nod to a fisherman propped on a bollard, exchange the weather, climb the final steps up to the ridge. And then let fly. Push wide, push up your knees so the blue nets hold [...] by Harriet Staff

His secret discipline August 31, 2010: Also in this month's Boston Review, Alissa Valles unveils the little-recognized gifts of Irish poet Harry Clifton. She admires his "solidity," which she considers . . . . . . a product of Clifton’s formal discipline and of the deliberateness of his thought. His poetry has little of the exhilarating zaniness and wildness of Muldoon’s, and [...] by Harriet Staff

But how shall I begin (again)? August 31, 2010: In this month's Boston Review, poet Richard Deming evaluates Ann Lauterbach's latest collection, Or to Begin Again. He frames the book in terms of contemporary politics, and bears in mind the apocalyptic event that seemed to mark the start of upheaval without end: This question of endings and beginnings, of ruin begetting ruin, of narrative [...] by Harriet Staff

A tale from chapbook city August 31, 2010: ...in which a self-important poet talks about the innovate chapbook he’s working on and another self-important poet tells him to branch out as they stare into mugs of black coffee. Note: they are cartoons, and they are funny. Enjoy this video posted by poet Mark Leidner on HTMLGIANT: by Harriet Staff

Life imitates art in a new novel about Elizabeth Bishop August 31, 2010: Some writers find inspiration in the stories of their lives. For novelist Michael Sledge, his life took a cue from his work. While working on The More I Owe You, a novel about the 17 years Elizabeth Bishop spent in the tropics of Brazil, Sledge's life began to resemble that of the very private poet. As he easily channeled Bishop's voice, he found [...] by Poetry News

Virginia Quarterly Review closes offices, cancels winter issue August 31, 2010: In the wake of managing editor Kevin Morrissey's suicide and the subsequent allegations of bullying levied against editor Ted Genoways, the award-winning literary journal has removed the remaining staff members from the masthead, closed its offices, and canceled its winter issue. From the New York Times: “The staff has been through a lot, [...] by Harriet Staff

Also, Rimaud not actually a boat August 30, 2010: The Telegraph has the story of Paul Hurt, an animal rights protester who traversed great distances to a Seamus Heaney reading in order to rage against the poet's perceived love of bullfighting. For evidence, Hurt pointed to Heaney's love poem "Tate's Avenue" in which the speaker mentions "getting drunk before a corrida." Jonathan Reekie, [...] by Poetry News

“All writers should study poetry, because poetry is all about language” August 30, 2010: Over on the Tinfish blog, editor Susan M. Schultz outlines her argument for poetry in a time when most universities are in a deep financial freeze: I am arguing that, if we are to create an MFA program, we need more than two faculty members who teach poetry on the graduate level. I am borrowing an argument made by Adam Aitken, our current [...] by Poetry News