Overheard at the West Chester Poetry Conference June 20, 2009: “Welcome to the largest conference in the country devoted to poetry.” “Go ahead, tell us about the dactyls and the anapests, we can handle it.” (more...) by Annie Finch

An Evening with Forugh: Iranian Poetry Night June 18, 2009: Forugh Farrokhzād Travis's post and recent events call me to describe something I've been wanting to post about for a while. One of the most moving evenings I've had as an American poet occurred in Farsi. (more...) by Annie Finch

Romantic Re-volutions June 16, 2009: What does Edward Lear have in common with Samuel Taylor Coleridge? The answer, or at least the question, may be found in the brand-new volume 3 of Jerome Rothenberg’s Poems for the Millennium, coedited with Romanticism scholar Jeffrey C. Robinson. The book approaches the nineteenth century the way Rothenberg and former coeditor Pierre Joris [...] by Annie Finch

Sadness and Peepers June 6, 2009: I'm in my tent. I woke up hearing peepers and a big bullfrog. I can't believe there is wireless in this campground. It's a KOA in Woodstock, New York. I'm here with my (more...) by Annie Finch

Chillin’ More With the Villies June 5, 2009: Guess who wrote the following villanelle: (more...) by Annie Finch

Women’s Work: The Poetic Justice Forum June 5, 2009: My poetry trip to the U.K. this winter was marked, among many wonderful experiences, by something more sobering: a string of stories poured out to me by women poets about gender imbalance and discrimination in prizes and book and journal publishing at the top levels of the British poetry world. While I am a natural idealist and would prefer [...] by Annie Finch

Where Are You, General Audience? June 2, 2009: I woke up the morning after the college reunion reading not only slightly hungover on cucumber vodka, but also satisfied and addicted. These few hundred folks might well be the largest audience I've ever read to that didn't consist primarily of poets, writers, and poetry and writing teachers. I had had the rare experience of reading for a [...] by Annie Finch

Bright College Fears May 30, 2009: I'm posting this from a dorm room in Timothy Dwight College at Yale, where I am beng housed before giving a poetry reading tomorrow as part of the 30th reunion of the class (more...) by Annie Finch

Discovering Dunbar May 27, 2009: A life centered on poetry has allowed me many emotions that I never feel except in relation to poetry. There’s the thrill of gratitude when a poem is conceived, the anxiety of waiting for a word, the warm breakthrough of the right one at last, the dryness and frustration of the blind alley. There’s the glorious triumph of speaking the [...] by Annie Finch

S.O.S. for Salt May 26, 2009: News flash: an important trans-Atlantic poetry publisher put out an S.O.S. this week.  Here's yesterday's update on the  Salt Publishing situation from the U.K. bookseller Catherine Neilan: (more...) by Annie Finch