Lemon Hound trades the tugboat in for a party barge October 25, 2010: The Lemon Hound blog, now with invitation only guests, features a new post on the history appropriation and erasure. It’s a brief but helpful take on a long and convoluted history, which begins with a discussion of the experiments of Burrough and Gysin: For Burroughs and Gysin other people’s writing served as raw material which could be [...] by Poetry News

MFA Democracy Now! October 25, 2010: Last week the Huffington Post published a long article by Anis Shivani entitled “Is the MFA System Corrupt and Undemocratic?” Of course, the title is a rhetorical question, and the thesis of the piece can be summarized as: “the MFA system is corrupt and undemocratic.” Shivani has a novel take on an old beef, though, as his article is a [...] by Poetry News

Digi-po October 25, 2010: There have been a couple of Harriet posts lately about visual poetry, but little regarding digital poetry. It's time to correct that! Australian digital poet Jason Nelson has a built a portal featuring a large selection of his work. The pieces are wide-ranging, from digital poetry games to virtual 3D spaces. Each piece comes with a description [...] by Harriet Staff

Digital seduction October 25, 2010: To e-read or not to e-read? That's no longer the question. Whether or not you embrace them, e-readers and e-books are here to stay, and now the question for many is to Kindle or to iPad? Or perhaps to Nook ? Jacob Lambert looks at the inevitable transition to e-readers for those of us who love our scruffy old tangible books but don't want to be [...] by Harriet Staff

“Read junk. Read every kind of book. But read for pleasure.” October 24, 2010: W.S. Merwin has had no shortage of interviews in recent months, and that's most definitely a good thing. Our poet laureate has endless wisdom to share, and this time he meditates on his goals for his tenure as laureate and the joys of reading for the Progressive. Read up....and enjoy! Q: You seem continually astonished by nature, love, and [...] by Harriet Staff

Skating rink murder mystery October 23, 2010: The Roberto Bolaño trove of goodies is about to expand, reports the Telegraph. Tim Martin reviews Bolaño's The Skating Rink, a black comedy/murder mystery/thriller previously unpublished in English: The Skating Rink is just one of several novels, essays and poems that are scheduled for publication or reissue this year or next. The treats in [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetry best sellers, October 10-17 October 22, 2010: Not much has changed at the top of this week's contemporary best seller list, but down in the wild and wooly double digits there are some notable additions. The National Book Awards announced this year's finalists last week, including Kathleen Graber's The Eternal City, which debuts at number 20 on this week's list, tied with Heavenly Questions, [...] by Harriet Staff

Ah, youth…Uncle Ez edition October 22, 2010: Scholar Mark Scroggins writes, in a recent post on his blog, about about the fiery style of the young Ezra Pound, in which Pound clearly and forcefully lays out an aesthetic program, with very little room for compromise. Scroggins writes: There is no waffle, no "on the other hand" or "but" or "one might concede." Positions are staked militarily, [...] by Poetry News

Literary generation gap October 22, 2010: Remember the canon? No, not that cannon, the other canon. The cool, counter-cultural 1970s canon that situated "Howl" as a crown jewel among the likes of Lord of the Flies and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? If you don't remember because you weren't born or still in diapers, then pity poor little you. Rick Gekoski of the Guardian [...] by Harriet Staff

Artfully recovering creativity October 22, 2010: For many artists who suffer from a stroke or a traumatic injury, the resulting loss of brain functionality often means an end to their creative careers. Yet based on the stories of those like jazz guitarist Pat Martino, who lost all of his musical memory during brain surgery only to re-teach himself to play by listening to his old recordings, it [...] by Harriet Staff