Painless poetry September 20, 2010: Poetry doesn't bite. Nor does it talk back (most of the time.) So why are so many people  afraid of a few lines of verse? David Lucus, the poetry columnist for the Michigan Daily, insists that more people would go gaga for verse if it was presented as a thing of pleasure, not a puzzle to be solved: Most kindergarteners love poetry because the [...] by Harriet Staff

That’s what she said September 20, 2010: Robert Bringhurst's Selected Poems is lyrical and spartan, authoritative without being didactic. In a fresh and dewy critique in the Guardian, Kate Kellaway likens reading Bringhurst's poems to "breathing pure air:" There are several beautiful, lightly wrought but profound meditations of this sort: a marvellous poem "The Reader", about a woman [...] by Harriet Staff

On Syria’s salon September 20, 2010: Syria, like America, is not entirely comfortable with poetry. But its situation is a tad more dire than ours, according to NYU professor Sinan Antoon, who is quoted in this New York Times article about a Damascus poetry series. “Many of the cafes which used to be literary and cultural nodes have closed down — especially in Beirut — or have [...] by Poetry News

Don’t quote us September 20, 2010: "Imagine that this essay began not with the sentence you’re reading, but with the following observation, attributed to Wittgenstein." So David Orr begins his New York Times Book Review essay on epigraphs. He writes that contemporary poets have developed a taste for citations—Liz Waldner, for example, starts off her recent volume, "Trust," with [...] by Harriet Staff

God loves poetry, not hate-mongering September 20, 2010: GodHatesFags.com. is the website of The Westboro Baptist Church located in Topeka, Kan. The church, best know for protesting funerals of  gay people who died of AIDS or were victims of hate crimes, puts out press releases filled with phrases like "Military funerals have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy," and "God hates fag-infested; [...] by Harriet Staff

Tribute to honor Lucille Clifton September 20, 2010: Award-winning poet Lucille Clifton will be honored tomorrow at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, with "73 Poems for 73 Years: Celebrating the Life of Lucille Clifton," a tribute program recognizing her influence and achievements. Clifton, who died in February, was know for her free verse dealing with themes of female identity, [...] by Poetry News

Crunch poems September 20, 2010: The Washington Post profiles Houston Texans' running back—and poet— Arian Foster: The strains of old Chinese music or perhaps Mozart often provide a calming backdrop, flowing through his headphones. Foster has filled 20 or 30 spiral-bound notebooks with handwritten original poems, short stories and songs. He rolled up 231 yards on 33 [...] by Poetry News

Poet seeks happiness, stat September 18, 2010: The Happy Poet, an indie flick (of course) directed by and starring Paul Gordon, is about a poet who wants to be happy but doesn't know how. Will opening up an organic food cart and meeting a cute girl be what he needs, or is he destined for the doldrums? Here's the wrap from The New York Times: The film’s first half charts the cascading [...] by Poetry News

The secret life of Scotland’s national poet September 17, 2010: Beyond the Last Dragon: A Life of Edwin Morgan by James McGonigal, chronicles the Scottish poet's involvement in the underground 1950s-60s Glasgow gay scene.  Sexual acts between two adult males were not made legal in Scotland until 1980, writes Phil Miller in the Herald Scotland, and the disapproving social atmosphere in Glasgow took its toll on [...] by Harriet Staff

Thou hast thy music, too September 17, 2010: The Guardian has asked its readers to recommend songs inspired by poetry. As it turns out, there's lots of it, and (at least according to writer Paul Macinnes) it's good. Take the Fugs and their reworking of Allen Ginsberg's totemic "Howl." On the one hand a piece of garage-rock r'n'b, on the other a platter of disorienting descant in which [...] by Poetry News