News Archive

Utah has a new poet laureate.

Stephen Crane would be 135 today, except he’s dead.

Our bestsellers columnist asks: “Are you wearing pants right now?”

What will those nutty MTA folks think up next? A poetry contest for New York subway riders.

Paul Krassner remembers Allen Ginsberg, and the days when revolution wasn’t just a word used in lipstick commercials.

Turning poems into paper airplanes.

Name writers turn out for spelling bee, then go drinking.

Sylvia Plath’s found early poem about boredom, and an analysis of her margin notes from The Great Gatsby. Maybe after this we can leave her alone for a bit?

OMG HE wrote it: Fans flock to buy Viggo Mortensen’s books.

William Styron dies.

Two-year-old memorizes dozens of ancient Chinese poems.

In the Blake tradition, Courtney Love inspired by angels to write poetry.

What the...? Workers revamping grounds of Emily Dickinson's home find buried tombstone.

Shirley Kaufman in Jerusalem: quiet, careful poems written in a war zone.

NBA superstar writes poems while rehabbing knee injury, will not show them to anyone.

Bruce Andrews, Language poet and Fordham professor, takes on Bill O'Reilly. Click "Outrage of the Week!"

Ginsberg, Ginsberg, Ginsberg. The poet that keeps on giving.

Samuel Beckett's poetry, often overlooked, is full of phrases that won't leave you alone.

In celebration of their 60th anniversary, Chicago Review opens their vaults.

Former prime minister of Turkey and poet, Bulent Ecevit, dies.

Play written by poet found. Critic says, "it's a stinker."

Writers having sex with other writers. Not always a good idea.

“I love you. You love me. I used to love you. You don't love me. I want to sleep with you. Here we are in bed together. I hate you. You betrayed me. I've betrayed you. I want to kill you. Oh no! I have killed you.”—James Fenton on the formula of the romantic lyric.

Poet takes photos of himself, says they are of other people.

“I am embarrassed about the silence of the American intellectual.”—Derek Walcott.

Pakistan declares public holiday to celebrate the birthday of national poet.

Holy cow: Former James Bond Roger Moore "a huge fan" of Kipling.

Samuel Menashe, one day snubbed, today: celebrated.

Robert Wrigley appears on the NewsHour, reading a poem about a good-looking mother in a voting booth.

"Maybe the 51st state is a state of war."—Poet Sekou Sundiata.

Lucille Clifton to the world: Good luck trying to kill me.

Those dim politicians keep sending around various versions of the same racist poem, and getting in trouble for it.

"Poems I Wrote While Watching TV offers almost exactly the reading experience implied by the title. . . ."

"Serious poems . . . on serious subjects."—Sam Kaufman on Martín Espada.

"Well, I’m quite the odd man out, aren’t I?"—Billy Collins.

Is it just us, or are the Contemporary Poetry Review awards strangely satisfying?

Harry Potter film star threatens to quit acting: "I would like to focus more on writing poetry."

"The experience is of act and aftermath, what happens and continues to happen, wave and ripple registered from the inside out."—William Corbett on Seamus Heaney.

Ben Lerner, 27-year-old National Book Award nominee, fits right in “with the laptop-and-latte crowd.”

Portraits of New York poets in the 70s, when they "owned the scene."

Man starts business based on the premise that babies can write poetry and it will save the world. Or something.

One woman show on Anne Sexton: addiction, depression, and enough mother's little helpers to sink a battleship.

Toni Morrison curates slam readings at the Louvre.

Dylan Thomas died today in 1953.

Bruce Weigl: the 150,000 dollar man.

"Poetry has always been charged with the distinctions of sex."

Aye-yai-yai. More Ginsberg.

Male cowboy poet of the year.

Poetry is doing quite well for itself, in India.

Father of twelve, wrestling fan, poet.

The collected poems of Donald Rumsfeld.

Who wrote that dang poem about Flanders Field?

Poetry Forum reaches 40.

Indian celebrities celebrate their favorite poems.

Cave Canem releases new anthology.

If poets ran the world, would peace break out in the Mideast? Signs say: doubtful.

James Fenton knows a few things about being bombed by love.

What Wilfred Owen knew: "explosives, explosions, things that just happen and can blow people apart."

New translation of The Aeneid: Virgil "still has his hooks in us."

Kids’ bard Jack Prelutsky: Good things happen when you don’t eat your “literary liver.”

“Drink and opium had glazed him”: What caused the Wordsworth-Coleridge split?

Dozen Indian officers watch Tibetan activist-poet 24-7 to prevent his China protest.

Yes, minister: Deceased gramps appears in vision, wants poem turned into song.

L.A. punk poet Iris Berry goes moshing with the Cosmos in Palm Springs.

Maine poet laureate decorates deluxe outhouse with laminated Paris Review party invite.

Dubliner with shaved head uses poetry to keep youngsters on the straight and narrow.

Twin Towers, black holes in Galway Kinnell’s latest.

What’s the matter with Kansas? In praise of Ginsberg’s more relevant epic.

“Idled-minded overlings”: Thinking of Kipling again in Iraq.

The Riel thing: Francophone Canadian legend wrote poem in English three weeks before execution.

The Arcanes project: Jack Hirschman’s magnum opus on par with Ulysses and Leaves of Grass.

Mimeographed home to Codrescu, Berrigan, and Ginsberg sends out its last box of goodies.

NBA: Mackey wins for Splay Anthem, Rich nabs honors and critiques “free market critique of poetry.”

Dana Gioia, who once rejuvenated the business of Jell-O, now protects the NEA from budget cuts.

Navajo poet and Whiting award winner Sherman Bitsui’s “ceremony with language.”

“Lies spewed out of the mouth of a burning bush”: Six-foot-nine Etan Thomas is the NBA's court poet.

“Wordsworth, Tennyson, Betjeman . . . have all gone out to bat for cricket, in verse.”

There must be something in the water: Santa Cruz poets dominate National Book Awards.

When New York had a real downtown literary scene and no one had heard of AIDS yet.

Publisher of lad magazines takes up poetry because sex is so over with.

Adrienne Rich argues that in a dark time we need poetry more than ever.

Paul Muldoon talks to Charles McGrath about how in a dark time clarity is inappropriate.

"Allen Ginsberg embodied, as a figure, some great cold war climax of human disinhibition."—Walter Kirn.

Our bestseller columnist reminds us: Even though Halloween is over, Frankenstein is always funny.

Saying "no" to slam poetry.

Portuguese poet and painter Mario Cesariny dead at 83.

In Rangoon: Men jailed for 26 years for publishing political poem.

Where can a Whitman fan go to get her fix?

Students try poetry, one deems it "really different than normal writing."

Has Billy Collins gone all religious crazy?

Holy Christ on a crutch: Stanley Kunitz's co-op for sale for more than 2 million.

Drunk gets off: He is a poet, not a racist. Maybe Michael Richards should try this tactic?

Galway Kinnell reviewed. Hey NY Times, could you put a ban on the phrase "to boot?"

Uh, like, Shakespeare's good and stuff.

Creeley set to music.

Race to put Dylan Thomas love story on the screen.

Did Longfellow have a fibbing problem?

Brain surgery turned him into a poet: Alex Lemon's harrowing debut.

It's true: Electricians love poetry.

Don Paterson reworks Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, and decides they are not just meant for Orpheus.

John Betjeman, the most popular poet between here and Mars.

This just in: Seamus Heaney nominated for Costa Award.

Paul Muldoon's high wire act, brought to you by Diet Mountain Dew.

Richard Gere to read prison poems, handsomely.

Carl Phillips, wins Academy of American Poets Fellowship, admits that he "came very late to modern/contemporary poetry."

Howl if you believe in the First Amendment.

Seattle's only newspaper declares Ginsberg is no good.

The Poetry Archive celebrates its 1st anniversary with presents for everyone.

Woman tours country on her motorcycle, reading poetry to people whether they like it or not.

Reading "Four Quartets" as subway-inspired masterpieces.

NY Times lists 10 best books of 2006, but no poetry. That's kinda retarded.

If you don't want your kid to become a poet, don't kill yourself.