In Memoriam: David Bromige June 10, 2009: "Poetry is the theory of heartbreak" -- David Bromige (October 22, 1933 to June 3, 2009) Endowed with remarkable wit and a prodigious memory, David Bromige was a paragon of poetic virtues. Not only was he a master of both traditional and innovative forms, but, as a teacher, he exhibited enormous erudition and generosity. David’s output [...] by D.A. Powell

Porno For Poets August 5, 2008: Jonathan Mayhew posted the following response to the excerpt of an interview with Philip Levine that I included in a recent blog entry: “I heard Levine give a reading years back and say he cut his lines in half because the New Yorker paid by the line. He could get paid more for the same poem that way, just by doing this” I don’t know if [...] by D.A. Powell

Vast Eternity III August 1, 2008: Now let us sport while we may…I love that so many people are commenting on Levine’s distinction between “poetry temporal” and “poetry eternal” and my own volley against using criticism as a staging ground to launch one’s own poetry bottlerocket. It seems, though, that the very dialogue itself is caught up in the temporal rather than [...] by D.A. Powell

Vast Eternity II August 1, 2008: The reason I started musing on the literary version of separation between Church and State—the separation between poet and critic—is because I think more and more we’re getting these hybrids, the poet/critics (or “pitics”) (or “croets”) who feel that they can straddle these two distinct bodies and attempt to satisfy them both, as if [...] by D.A. Powell

Yonder All Before Us Lie Deserts of Vast Eternity July 31, 2008: I was going to call this entry “Why I Am Not a Critic.” But then I realized I’d probably get blasted for that, because, after all, everyone is a critic—and—everyone is a critic. But what I mean to say is that I generally don’t write a whole lot of criticism. The truth is, I don’t much care about criticism. I think it’s wonderful [...] by D.A. Powell

All the Young Girls Love Alice July 17, 2008: Alice Dunbar-Nelson, born 17 July, 1875 (more...) by D.A. Powell

Greatest American Hero July 14, 2008: Jerry Rubin, born 14 July, 1938 Self-described “orphan of Amerika,” outside agitator, leader of the Youth International Party, indicted co-conspirator in the trial against free speech in the streets and parks of Chicago, sports writer, mayoral candidate, and revolutionary, Jerry Rubin once “liberated” the last few copies of the [...] by D.A. Powell

Accessible Poetry July 13, 2008: By which I mean "easy enough to get there." Especially from anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. This Friday, 18 July, at 7:30 p.m., a stellar line-up of poets will be reading in San Francisco to benefit the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. (more...) by D.A. Powell

The Turn of the Thumbscrew June 25, 2008: The late William Talcott, editor of Thumbscrew Press, quite infrequently published a magazine called Carbuncle. The magazine was mostly devoted to poetry, along with artwork by poet Mark Neville, and the occasional interview and review. One of the most provocative pieces of prose I’ve ever read appeared in Carbuncle #3, in 1991. It was a [...] by D.A. Powell

Poets Laureate June 23, 2008: Travis Nichols’ post on the current conjecture over who will or should be the next Poet Laureate of Britain contained a wonderfully sad story involving John McCain, Robert Pinksy, Charles Simic and an unfortunately bright-but-not-bright-enough man who wanted to illustrate McCain’s ignorance but instead illustrated his own (sidenote: I don’t [...] by D.A. Powell