Sun-drenched translation January 10, 2008: Reginald's recent translation post has me thinking about translation again... as did my week-long marathon of getting in an application for an NEA translation grant (hope springs eternal!) And I had been meaning to write as well on some Greek women poets ever since Rigoberto's post on Aurora de Albornoz many weeks back. Some poets do seem to [...] by A.E. Stallings

Epiphany, or What You Will January 5, 2008: It’s the eve of Epiphany, 12th night, the last day of Christmas. Epiphany is probably as big a holiday in Greece as Christmas (maybe bigger). As with the mornings of Christmas eve and New Year’s Eve, children are stalking the streets of Athens armed with jangling triangles to sing a carol known as “Kalanda” to unsuspecting adults, who [...] by A.E. Stallings

The Best Book of 2007 that I Didn’t Read Until the Week Before Last January 2, 2008: One of the problems with these calendar-year lists (not to mention grant and prize deadlines) is that it tends to give books published in the autumn or winter of the year rather short shrift. When asked about our end-of-year picks, I was still holding out hope that this book would have arrived, because I had a feeling in my heart of hearts that [...] by A.E. Stallings

Getting and spending we lay waste our powers December 24, 2007: Many a Christmas carol has been spoiled by slick, oversweetened arrangement, piped into a mall to stimulate more panic buying. Christmas poems, read in a quiet moment to ourselves, are harder (though not impossible of course) to commodify. They are something of an antidote. As a member of Muzak's marketing department remarked, quoted in a New [...] by A.E. Stallings

Happy Birthday, E.A. Robinson December 22, 2007: I actually had a couple of other posts brewing (or gestating, as Annie Finch put it), but the twin prompts of Ange's Malice of the Sonnet post and a timely reminder via Writer's Almanac, made me realize a short post on Edwin Arlington Robinson was in order today. (more...) by A.E. Stallings

The Owl December 15, 2007: We’ll be spending Christmas in Greece this year, about which I have mixed feelings. Christmas is not a big holiday in Greece or the Eastern church generally, which has its upside (a little less commercialism, though that is changing every year). Easter is what Greeks do best. So I guess I am more inclined to homesickness of a sort. There are [...] by A.E. Stallings

Interview with the Sonnet December 14, 2007: Our special guest today is the sonnet. No stranger to controversy, gender bending, political debate, the tug-of-war between the avant garde and the retrograde, the sonnet again finds herself a topic of discussion. Her Sophia Loren Italian incarnation is top-heavy and wasp-waisted. When showing her English-rose side, she can seem a little more [...] by A.E. Stallings

Feeling Guilty December 11, 2007: I’m guilty—because I quoted Wendy Cope. I’d wanted something apropos and light— Now suddenly I'm feeling like a dope. I thought a credit was sufficient—nope; I hadn’t asked permission. Now I hope I haven't trampled on her copyright! I’m guilty—because I quoted Wendy Cope. (I’d wanted something apropos and light.) (more...) by A.E. Stallings

Sonnetude December 8, 2007: Maybe some people do want to be New Formalists after all. (I'm suddenly feeling better about the label myself!) At any rate everyone, it seems, has an opinion on form. And the poster child of form has to be the sonnet. We are in the midst of a sonnet explosion arguably on a par with the great 19th century revival. (The form had fallen into a [...] by A.E. Stallings

Harvest December 7, 2007: Over the weekend we managed to abstract ourselves from the Concrete City, and drive down into the Peloponnese to Sparta. Outside of Sparta, heading up into the foothills of Taygetus, our friend, poet Mark Sargent, has a house with spectacular views of the mountain range (famed as a spot for exposing less-than-perfect Spartan infants in ancient [...] by A.E. Stallings