Jordan Davis Reviews Bill Luoma’s Some Math for Constant Critic November 17, 2011: A new review up at Constant Critic is newsworthy: Jordan Davis takes on Bill Luoma's new book Some Math, just published this fall by Kenning Editions (beautiful book, we might add!). Davis places us quickly in mid-nineties New York, noting that "in the mid-nineties D.C. was part of New York." He says: "[O]f all the stoned geniuses circulating [...] by Harriet Staff

Inhabiting Laura Solomon’s The Hermit November 9, 2011: The Rumpus has a review of Laura Solomon's new book, The Hermit (Ugly Duckling Presse 2011), with poet and prolific reviewer Gina Myers unabashedly titling it "Everything Tastes Better When It's Precious." Myers notes that "perhaps what is so surprising about Laura Solomon’s third collection of poems is that though it is titled The Hermit, [...] by Harriet Staff

“The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry” ruffles feathers. Duh. November 8, 2011: Does anyone have a phone number for the producers of the World's Toughest Job? Because we'd like to petition that they add "poetry anthologist" to their roster of underwater welders, rodeo clowns, ultimate fighters, and pyrotechnicians. Okay, it's true that you won't lose any limbs compiling the "best" verse of the last 100 years, but the [...] by Harriet Staff

Geof Huth Emulates Douglas Rothschild’s Poetic Forms in a Review of Theogeny November 8, 2011: Visual poet and critic Geof Huth has an intriguing review of Douglas Rothschild's Theogeny up at his blog, under the title "Theogeny Recapitulates Cosmogony." He explains it: The title of this attempt at a review of Douglas Rothschild's book of poetry, Theogeny, a text that seems to avoid criticism by being both all things as well as often [...] by Harriet Staff

Gail Scott Looks at Rosmarie Waldrop’s Translation of Jean Daive’s Walks with Paul Celan November 3, 2011: Just published and very much worth a read over at Jacket2: Gail Scott reviews the 2009 book by Jean Daive, Under The Dome: Walks with Paul Celan, a discussion, she says, that "must start with admiration for the work of the translator. For the French poet Daive’s chronicle of Paris walks with the great German-language poet Celan is a treatise [...] by Harriet Staff

Marjorie Perloff and the 50th Anniversary of John Cage’s Silence November 3, 2011: Marjorie Perloff looks at John Cage's Silence for the Los Angeles Review of Books; LARB has included some bonus material on their blog (picked up from WFMU's Beware of the Blog): a "remarkable 1960 appearance by Cage on CBS-TV's I've Got a Secret." Silence celebrates its 50th anniversary this year (wow) with a new edition from Wesleyan [...] by Harriet Staff

Revolver reviewed on The Rumpus October 24, 2011: Want to know something about the history of pre-fabricated steel? The marriage of Elizabeth Colt? Singer sewing machines? The origin of the Volkswagen? Then perhaps you should pick up a copy of Revolver by poet/master of arcana Robyn Schiff. The collection is reviewed in The Rumpus' latest installment of TLPBIL ("The Last Poetry Book I Loved") [...] by Harriet Staff

Fanny Howe is not afraid October 18, 2011: A new feature on the BOMBLOG is Elsbeth Pancrazi on Fanny Howe’s Come and See (Graywolf 2011), a book published in May that is also, as Pancrazi writes, an "argument for a kind of art that teaches us to contain a large amount of uncertainty." More on that: (In Howe’s own words: “While a painting takes time and gives headaches,/A [...] by Harriet Staff

George Keats Built a Sawmill in Kentucky October 17, 2011: Christopher Benfey's New York Times review of Denise Gigante's book, The Keats Brothers, offers a glimpse into the relationship between John and George Keats. Benfey illuminates how Gigante's book shows that John and George, while not quite Goofus and Gallant, were quite opposite in their life paths. From the review: Suppose you [...] by Harriet Staff

Bitter fortune: Herta Müller connects the dissidence of Liao Yiwu & Boris Pasternak October 14, 2011: Nobel winner Herta Müller spoke about Chinese dissident author Liao Yiwu's new book Testimonials at the book release in Berlin in August (Yiwu "was ecstatic," wrote The New York Times, when he made it to Germany in July after "being denied an exit visa 17 times, yanked off planes and trains by the police and threatened with yet more prison [...] by Harriet Staff