Arrivals and Departures July 29, 2011: Inspiring new projects! Amusing diversions! Profound loss! This week was all over the place. ARRIVING: Want to do some late-summer traveling? Poets & Writers assembles an e-guide to “literary cities.” Yes, it includes Los Angeles. And Zach Dodson has a refreshingly populist take on our own Chicago turf. ARRIVING: Speaking of the [...] by Harriet Staff

Comparing Experimental Poetry and the Language of the Right July 29, 2011: Poetry and politics join hands, kind of, in a couple of essays this week. One is a Frank Bruni column for The New York Times, and the other is a piece by David Micah Greenberg in the July/August issue of The Boston Review. Greenberg explores the uses of comparison in both poetry and politics: Both [poetry and politics] understand the limits [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetry Society in Historical Light July 29, 2011: The Guardian puts this whole UK Poetry Society business in historical context: in 1947-48, the Poetry Society director withdrew from her post in a flurry of disagreement. That was Muriel Spark, then 29, pictured above. She "fell out with the society's old guard when combining the job of chief administrator with editing the [Poetry] Review." [...] by Harriet Staff

CSU Reviews John Beer’s The Waste Land July 29, 2011: The Waste Land and Other Poems, John Beer's award-winning book of poems, has just been reviewed by Colorado State University's Center for Literary Publishing, with a remark that Beer is concerned with a "joy of caffeinated, revved-up rhetoric." Caffeinated, yes! The reviewer, John Whalen, looks at Beer's many allusions, but keeps Eliot and Ashbery [...] by Harriet Staff

Reminder: Slam Poetry Turns 25 This Saturday July 29, 2011: As we reported in this post, slam poetry will celebrate its 25th anniversary at Chicago's Metro this Saturday. Robb Q. Telfer wrote an in-depth feature on slam, covering primarily the founder of the form Marc Smith, for Time Out Chicago. From the article: A brief disclosure: Smith is the director of my performance ensemble, my mentor [...] by Harriet Staff

John Chervokas, the Poet Who Keeps Us from Squeezing the Charmin’, Has Passed Away July 29, 2011: According to this Washington Post article, John Chervokas, "an advertising man and wordsmith who was credited with introducing a toilet paper slogan into popular culture with his 'Please Don’t Squeeze the Charmin' campaign, has died at age 74." A bit on the genesis of his famous slogan: Chervokas was a junior copywriter at Benton & [...] by Harriet Staff

Joseph Brodsky’s Family Flat to Become a Museum July 29, 2011: The New Yorker's Book Bench writes about Joseph Brodsky's Leningrad flat, which he shared with several other families—he and his parents were cordoned off in 430 square feet. Brodsky went on to write about the Soviet housing system in an essay called "A Room and a Half": Property laws are arcane everywhere, but some of them are more [...] by Harriet Staff

If You’re at the Walker Art Center’s Open Field Today between 11am and 5pm, Answer the Poetry Phone! July 28, 2011: In yet another marriage of poetry and telephones (see also these two posts), Minneapolis's Walker Art Center has installed a Poetry Phone as part of its Open Field project. If the phone rings, pick it up and a poet will read you a poem. The poems are curated by Joshua Beckman. A brief description from the Walker Open Field blog: Look [...] by Harriet Staff

Mickey Rourke, Ariana Reines & Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle July 28, 2011: Montevidayo contributor Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle has written about Ariana Reines today. Reines, who recently brought back from the dead (heat, that is) the audience at the POPSICKLE fest with her poem "Rainer Werner Fassbinder" and is set to read with the 'Lectric Collective tonight at 7:00 in Brooklyn, also seems to be the Mickey Rourke [...] by Harriet Staff

California Small-Press Publisher Len Fulton Passes Away at 77 July 28, 2011: We are sad to note the passing of a lovely person and key player in the small-press world, Len Fulton, the force behind Dustbooks Publishing and Small Press Review, who died of lung cancer last Sunday morning. Len, who was 77, also worked in California politics, acting as a Fifth District Supervisor in Chico. According to a longtime friend, he was [...] by Harriet Staff