Fictional poets write fictional poetry, hold fictional grudges February 22, 2011: While Dean Rader has called for a search for the ten greatest poets of all time, The Guardian's John Mullan has set himself up with a more constrained task: the ten best poets who themselves are the figments of other authors' imaginations. These fictional poets run the gamut from the title character in Dr. Zhivago whose poetry "survives Stalinism [...] by Poetry News

In which Edwin Torres welcomes the end of Facebook February 22, 2011: This Thursday, February 24, the poet Edwin Torres will read in an event co-sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, Poetry magazine, the Columbia College English department, and the college's Center for Book & Paper Arts. A reception immediately follows the reading. Here, Torres talks briefly about a few figures—Velemir Khlebnikov, David Bowie, and [...] by Poetry Foundation

Eat a rock, write a poem February 22, 2011: CA Conrad’s newest (soma)tic poetry exercise involves swallowing a gemstone. (!) But you don’t have to do it alone. The exercise requires four people to take turns sleeping with a gemstone under their pillow, and then: Wash it thoroughly after all 4 of you have DREAMT INTO IT! Then swallow it. Be certain to purchase a smooth, tumbled [...] by Harriet Staff

Lorine Niedecker recordings up on PennSound February 22, 2011: Check out these recordings of Lorine Niedecker reading in 1970! by Poetry News

Getting kids hooked on poetry (and dominant gender roles) February 22, 2011: Ms. magazine reviews and rightfully criticizes two new poetry collections aimed at kids, 100 Great Poems for Boys and 100 Great Poems for Girls. Of course, each volume is respectively edited by a member of the appropriate gender, and contains poems aimed at the supposedly gendered interests of children. The problem (among many problems) is that [...] by Harriet Staff

Making room for poor mothers at the poetry table February 21, 2011: Sandra Simonds has struck a nerve with her blog post on Poor Poetry Mothers. The visibility of poetry mothers on the scene and on campus is so poor that it requires Simonds to set out a few facts before continuing: a) the cost of daycare, b) the pay rate for adjuncts. I have been thinking about mothers who are poets who live in poverty or close [...] by Harriet Staff

A pictorial “how to” for juggling three Elizabeth Bishop collections February 21, 2011: If William Logan's New York Times review of all things Bishop this Sunday didn't quite satisfy you're Bishop fever, then perhaps a little graphica? In the Barnes and Noble Review, cartoonist Ward Sutton offers a helpful users' guide to reading the new collections of Elizabeth Bishop's poetry, prose and correspondence with The New Yorker. Each [...] by Harriet Staff

Robot poetics February 21, 2011: John Lundberg writes a post for the Huffington Post about computer poetry. After Watson’s victory on Jeopardy, Lundberg wondered whether there was a computer program that could out-write human poets: I searched the web for Watson's poetic doppelganger, imagining a blinking, spinny sphere that, out of principle, hasn't sold out to the [...] by Poetry News

Preparing for a post-Flarf world February 21, 2011: Lemon Hound features an interview with Nada Gordon on the future of Flarf. According to Gordon, many of the members of the group are, in one way or another, moving into a post-Flarf mode, and while their poetry might be still marked by Flarf techiniques, it will also be marked by new concerns. Most interesting is her claim that Flarf is and was [...] by Harriet Staff

The death of marginalia February 21, 2011: The New York Times is running an article today on the future, if there is one, of marginalia. The article suggests that writing in books might become a thing of the past as people do more of their reading electronically, which creates new dilemmas for archivists: “People will always find a way to annotate electronically,” said G. Thomas [...] by Poetry News