Cultural narratives find community at Poets House November 24, 2010: In a November 13th discussion at Poets House on “(Re) Writing Culture,” Sueyeun Juliette Lee "said that one of her main concerns is 'achieving a sense of belonging' and she posited, 'alienation is the root of world problems.'” Each of the three poets featured-- Lee, whose work explores the multiple "national spaces" she exists in as a [...] by Poetry News

The politics of poetry and pie November 23, 2010: Nancy Mattoon of Booktryst has a fascinating post on Lydia Maria Child, author of the ubiquitous Thanksgiving poem that begins: "Over the river, and through the wood, to Grandfather's house we go..." From its lofty position occupying thousands of classrooms and station wagons across the country, "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day" is likely to be thought [...] by Harriet Staff

Sex advice from poets November 23, 2010: Remember Nerve.com? Sure you do! Anyways, it still exists and it has some advice for how to improve your game. Advice from poets. About sex. What? Here's Mark Bibbins: If The Ezra Pound was a sex position, what would it be? It would last longer than it should, you’d never know what’s going on, and it would get you thrown in an [...] by Harriet Staff

The 2011 NEA grant awards November 23, 2010: Check out the list of poetry winners here. by Poetry News

Working through “The Network” November 23, 2010: Brian Spears, over at The Rumpus, loves Jena Osman’s new book, The Network, not so much for its poetry, but for the way it challenges the definition of poetry. The book is composed of essayistic conceptual explorations of words and ideas, in a variety of formal modes, none of which “feel” like traditional verse. He writes: There [...] by Harriet Staff

Fitter-web November 23, 2010: Poet Rob Fitterman has made much of his published work available for free, in PDF format, on his personal website. While it’s not unusual for artists and musicians to create websites to promote their work, poets are generally morally allergic to the idea of seeming self-promotional. They prefer, apparently, to get the word out through blogs and [...] by Poetry News

Where have all the critics gone? November 23, 2010: In a recent article for the Contemporary Poetry Review, poet-critic David Yezzi laments the unwillingness of contemporary poets to write criticism. He means “criticism” in the strong sense—laying out an aesthetic agenda, and such an agenda's relationship to the creation of standards of taste. His argument is compelling when it points [...] by Harriet Staff

More trouble for the Anthology of Rap November 23, 2010: Early this month, Yale University Press published the Anthology of Rap, a compendium of hip hop lyrics that purportedly showed the evolutions of the genre. But almost immediately critics took issue with the book's philosophy (cf: Kevin Young's piece in Bookforum), as well as its many transcription errors. Paul Devlin at Slate has followed up [...] by Harriet Staff

More Patti Smith! More Terrance Hayes! November 22, 2010: Here's National Book Award winner Patti Smith talking with Jonathan Lethem. Video via MobyLives. And here's National Book Award winner Terrance Hayes on the Jim Lehrer News Hour. by Poetry News

Kiki Petrosino goes crank and tread in the Chronicle November 22, 2010: Over at the Chronicle of Higher Education, Lisa Russ Spaar explores former @harriet_poetry tweeter Kiki Petrosino's poem "Ragweed": In a powerful move, Petrosino puts into italics the very “rag rage” (how provocative, these two words in juxtaposition) that her speaker has no remnant breath left to curse. Job, Patron Saint of undeserved [...] by Poetry News