“It matters cosmically” September 7, 2007: The author of my favorite children's book has died. The New York Times on Madeleine L'Engle: The book used concepts that Ms. L’Engle said she had plucked from Einstein’s theory of relativity and Planck’s quantum theory, almost flaunting her frequent assertion that children’s literature is literature too difficult for adults to [...] by Ange Mlinko

“The Cure of Poetry in an Age of Prose” September 5, 2007: “Heavenly Blue” morning glories sufflated by this new breeze come upon us now, coincident with a ritual the French actually have a word for, “la rentrée”*—applying equally to grownups back from extended vacations and schoolchildren beginning their semester. New flower at the terminus of flower season: how like ambivalent September. The [...] by Ange Mlinko

An Excess of Reality September 3, 2007: Andromaque, je pense à vous! Ce petit fleuve, Pauvre et triste miroir où jadis resplendit L’immense majesté de vos douleurs de veuve, Ce Simoïs menteur qui par vos pleurs grandit, A fécondé soudain ma mémoire fertile ... (Baudelaire, "Le Cygne") The imaginary river that fecundates the flood-plain in the brain-pan belongs to the [...] by Ange Mlinko

From the Book of Mythologies September 1, 2007: Ann Lauterbach told me that poetry is an art for the old. Harry Mathews told me that a writer he knew who had won almost every prize under the sun was still fundamentally unsatisfied. William Corbett told me that in his poems, Ted Berrigan opened his heart and said “This is who I am.” August Kleinzahler told me that Mary Barnard was one of [...] by Ange Mlinko

Further Reflections (on Starsdown) August 28, 2007: In 2005 I had a part-time job in midtown, and I would walk two long blocks across 55th St. from the subway to this office building (mechanically reaching into my bag for my ID card/barcode, without breaking my stride, as it came into view). There was little to recommend this stretch of parking garages, restaurants, delis. A whimsical umbrella [...] by Ange Mlinko

Half a List August 26, 2007: Technically speaking, can there ever be half a list? Lists of ten are a form more ingrained than sonnets. Here are 5 books being shuffled and reshuffled on my desk—at the risk of sounding blurbish— Jasper Bernes, Starsdown “The following are urban samples uncovered during crisis drills.” Thus begins our ride through a visionary L.A. As a [...] by Ange Mlinko

Texture August 23, 2007: I’ve been thinking about the issue of texture. There has to be a word—I’m using “texture” for lack of a better one—that describes how words in a poem interact, how they produce sensation. There was a group of poems in the Kenneth Rexroth issue of The Chicago Review that grabbed my attention; they were by a poet unknown to me, Emily [...] by Ange Mlinko

Comment allez-vous August 22, 2007: My post of the day is a reply to Kwame in the comment box of his post "Rebels." Among other things, I compare Kenny to Alfred Barr! by Ange Mlinko

Postcard August 20, 2007: How did Yours Truly become a synonym for I? Yours Truly did not go on vacation. Yours Truly is the last blogger standing on Harriet during these dog days of the dog days d'Aug. Yours Truly discovered that a perfectly banal stretch of road nearby, a road beleaguered with frequent back-ups and endless stoplights, clusters of strip malls, car [...] by Ange Mlinko

Stagecoach, Detached August 17, 2007: Courtesy of the website wood s lot, I found this site by the trenchant name The Business of Emotions. "Americans now buy their emotions and experience them as they consume the goods and services to which they have been attached by artful emotional and neuro-marketers." Shouldn't every poet with ambitions to sell books -- especially books [...] by Ange Mlinko