Tag Archives: poetry

on the Persistence of Poetry (Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin)

“There is a relation between language and truth that is very subtle and is always changing. For the reader or listener who can appreciate the constant shifting, each new poem one finds is a fresh statement of that relation.  Because … Continue reading

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“To the New Year” (Graham Foust)

[since I can’t write a poem to save my life, might as well share a good one I just tripped over. Maybe my new writing year will start tomorrow…] "To the New Year" Comes upon and at me does your … Continue reading

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NaPoWriMo 10.12 – “Titanic Analogy”

"Titanic Analogy" I wake angry, fists filled with dream music. I want no more white- knuckled wanting. I wonder at faded notes on my palm, meaning forgotten: "titanic analogy" and the first name of her last lover, faded ‘ but … Continue reading

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NaPoWriMo 10.11 – “Scout”

“Scout” After, I lie with my ear to your chest, listening, like the ever-brave always-mystical Indian scout in the old cowboy movies listened to the earth. Those scouts could discern the number of horses in pursuit and the skin color … Continue reading

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NaPoWriMo 10.10 – “Consuming”

“Consuming” You must split the melon to taste it, scatter spit the seeds. How else can we know what the flesh means? How else can the worms verb the rind and with their rinding rot? Call this consummate order. We … Continue reading

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Appalachian Flood (Cindy Goff)

Over at Harriet, Jeffrey McDaniel brings needed attention to the poetry of Cindy Goff. He highlights a fantastic, tiny poem that I share here in full: “Child Molestation” I remember nothing from eight to ten except a sensation like someone … Continue reading

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NaPoWriMo 10.9 – “What”

        What I Saw Two bloody palms ballooned against the cobwebbed glass leaking a mist almost too fine to see         What I Heard The keening of a knife whistling low and slow along the strop. The rattling of my … Continue reading

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NaPoWriMo 10.3-10.8 – “Venus” (T)

  The veil being drawn with the sound of falling water and the half-click of cloven hooves can’t cover the heavy breath of your protector. The papery leaves fold and fall, each a letter smelling of Spring even as they … Continue reading

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NaPoWrimo 10.2 – “At the Party”

There’s a lull in the conversation and the quiet shuffling begins. Our half-empty drinks and the tops of our shoes and and our own fingers and forearms become interesting. Someone looks one way a second too long and everyone wants … Continue reading

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National Poetry Month (2010)

April is National Poetry Month. Once again, my wiry but durable compatriot Jared and I will be embarking on a “poem-a-day” writing binge for the month—aka NaPoWriMo10. This time around we’ll be kicking it old school, blogging the poems on … Continue reading

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Pure Sound Poetry

The attitude about meaning espoused by Ken Babstock in this interview puzzles me. To wit: SQ: Ken, when you read in Montreal in the fall I found myself wanting to close my eyes and be carried away by the sound … Continue reading

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“Ai” (Denise Duhamel)

“Ai” There is a chimp named Ai who can count to five. There’s a poet named Ai whose selected poems Vice just won the National Book Award. The name "Ai" is pronounced "I" so that whenever I talk about the … Continue reading

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“We Are Many” (Pablo Neruda)

Of the many men who I am, who we are, I can’t find a single one; they disappear among my clothes, they’ve left for another city. When everything seems to be set to show me off as intelligent, the fool … Continue reading

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“Pythagoras Goes to Work” (Lee Slonimsky)

[Shared by Ed Byrne, an apt poem for Pi Day]   “Pythagoras Goes to Work” Triangulate the sun’s ascent. Two oaks the baseline on this steel-chill winter’s day. Diversion, suddenly now, in the way a hawk bisects low triangle of … Continue reading

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Go Read: The Storialist

The Storialist features a new poem each work day inspired by (and linking to) a photograph or work of art found on the web. Good idea and some great poems. Check it out.

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“Untitled” (Denis Johnson)

“Untitled” Stranger and stranger to one another waitress on her hands and knees to brush the carpet underneath a booth. You know– crawling around on all fours like a dog underneath a human booth etcetera to be human—to crawl—to walk … Continue reading

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“To a Young Poet” (Mahmoud Darwish)

[I started noting great lines and stanzas to share from this poem by Mahmoud Darwish, but before long had in some way marked up the whole thing. I’m ashamed to admit I’d never heard of Darwish—much less read any of … Continue reading

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on the Accusatory “You” (Alice Fulton)

“detective or mystery convention is of course the group exposition scene at the end, in which the detective tells a gathered group, often including the culprit, what happened. If addressed to the criminal, it’s in the second person, informing the … Continue reading

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on Loving their own generalizations (Mark Halliday)

The latest issue of Pleiades (30.1) has a great piece of criticism by Mark Halliday (“Pushcart Hopes and Dreams”), in which he discusses the Pushcart Prize nomination process and his own part nominating poems, including a close look at his … Continue reading

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on Praising Difficult Poems (Stephen Dunn)

“When people praise a poem that I can’t understand I always think they’re lying.” [Boy do I understand this suspicion] –Stephen Dunn

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