Poetry best sellers February 6-13, 2011 February 17, 2011: Alice Gregory explores the Mary Oliver best seller phenomenon in this week’s online feature, and here on this week’s contemporary best seller list Oliver continues to reign with nature-esque sublimity. Her Swan is at the top spot, followed by Nikki Giovanni’s Bicycles and Major Jackson’s Holding Company. Publishers Weekly called [...] by Harriet Staff

No love [sonnets] for differential equations February 17, 2011: On MIT's Admissions blog, one student shows her true devotion to higher learning by writing a sonnet for each of her classes (except differential equations, with whom she's currently embroiled in a lovers' quarrel). Working off of five hours of sleep, the poet known only as Anna '14 emerges from back to back lectures on organic chemistry and the [...] by Harriet Staff

Where have all the language poets gone? Oh, there they are. February 17, 2011: Vladislav Davidzon reviews L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writer Michael Gottlieb’s Essay and Memoir for the Forward, and praises its novelistic tendencies. Davidzon points out that for a poet who spent his career taking language apart, Gottlieb has a surprisingly deft and accessible prose style. Which raises the question—why are most of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E [...] by Harriet Staff

Walt Whitman and the Civil War’s human toll February 17, 2011: In an excerpt of From Battlefields Rising published in this month's Humanities, Randall Fuller examines the role that the Civil War played in transforming Walt Whitman's poetry. Whitman made his first attempt to capture the realities of war after the battle of Bull Run. He would later refer to the battle as a "crucifixion" that would haunt his [...] by Harriet Staff

Lupe Nero February 17, 2011: The editors at Poetry magazine are ever grateful for the work of our cover artists and art directors at Winterhouse—and this month we’re lucky from someone else’s loss. When we asked February cover artist Adam McCauley to write a few words about his cover illustration, and his work in general, he responded: (more...) by Fred Sasaki

Coffee House Press talks survival, values and (of course) its writers February 16, 2011: As Coffee House Press prepares to make its first major leadership transition in its 35 year history, The Huffington Post's Anis Shivani chats with founding publisher Allan Kornblum and Chris Fishbach, who will take over as publisher in July. Kornblum will remain involved as senior editor at the press he initially began as a hybrid between his [...] by Harriet Staff

The apocalypse, brought to you by the letters Y, A, L and E February 16, 2011: The Yale Daily News is republishing a dozen visions of the apocalypse commissioned from well known writers at a dollar a word (but because the editors were cash-strapped college kids in 1974, each writer was limited to 20 words). "As the editors noted in that 12th issue of the Magazine, 'The writers that exceeded twenty words did so out of a love [...] by Poetry News

LA’s local literature February 16, 2011: Katherine Manderfield writes a post for the LAist, defending the importance and terrificness of LA lit mags (especially against NYC lit mags, which she sees as more pretentious!). Even though it's still based around a major urban center, the article does introduce its readers to a variety of otherwise under-the-rader publications, and is a nice [...] by Harriet Staff

K. Shakespeare Mohammad February 16, 2011: Listen here to hear Flarf superstar K. Silem Mohammad read 15 of his new Sonnagrams. Each of the poems is composed using the letters from one of Shakespeare's sonnets as the source material for a for a new poem (also in iambic pentameter!), and the (often hilarious) titles are then made from whatever letters were left over. The results are goofy [...] by Poetry News

POST February 16, 2011: (more...) by Douglas Kearney