March 5, 2019
Gertrude Stein’s “Composition as Explanation”
The title of Gertrude Stein’s essay, “Composition as Explanation,” ostensibly contradicts her literary scheme of raising form to the level of content. The name seems to imply that this piece […]
June 15, 2018
Pros[onn]e[t]
[Continued from “Crawlspace”] * Thinking about contemporary sonnets, shadow sonnets, American Sonnets, and so on and so[nnet] on, I’m fascinated both by the poems themselves and by what the poems […]
June 8, 2018
The Quest for the Enchanted Writing Tip
Many writers spend their whole careers chasing that enchanted writing tip that will make them extraordinary, and there’s certainly no shortage of craft advice. Some authors (I’m looking at you, […]
February 19, 2018
American Sonnets (Part XVI: “what’s up ahead / which is resistance”)
[Continued from: “American Sonnets (Part XV: Some Sonnets)”] Ashbery’s second book The Tennis Court Oath, published in 1962, contained “Two Sonnets” too—directly after “America” and a few poems removed from “‘They Dream […]
February 12, 2018
American Sonnets (Part XIV: Stein’s Sonnet)
[Continued from “American Sonnets (Part XIII: The Hinges)”] In my last post, I thought a bit about how Gertrude Stein first opened up (or rather, unhinged) some of the doors […]
February 2, 2018
American Sonnets (Part XIII: The Hinges)
[Continued from “American Sonnets (Part XII: Precursors)”] Terrance Hayes connects with Harryette Mullen connects with Gertrude Stein connects with Terrance Hayes. The links (hyper- and literary) above aren’t just from […]
January 27, 2018
American Sonnets (Part XII: Precursors)
[Continued from “American Sonnets (Part XI: Insistence)”] Terrance Hayes ended a 2006 post for Harriet, the Poetry Foundation blog, by writing that “it is possible to value two very different things at […]
January 19, 2018
American Sonnets (Part XI: Insistence)
[Continued from “American Sonnets (Part X: Box, Box, Boxes, Boxes In)”] In addition to the overlapping concerns of form and content I began to consider in the previous post, Stein’s […]
January 16, 2018
American Sonnets (Part X: Box, Box, Boxes, Boxes In)
[Continued from “American Sonnets (Part IX: Concept and Impact)”] I’ve been pulled in two directions in my reading and thinking in the past few weeks. I’ve been writing posts inspired […]
August 25, 2017
The Night Charlie Chaplin and Gertrude Stein Talked Film
I just re-watched Charlie Chaplin’s film Limelight and was reminded of his relationship to Gertrude Stein. In 1934 Stein and Chaplin met at a dinner party, and both recorded their versions […]
May 21, 2016
The joy that has no stem nor core
The joy that has no stem nor core, Nor seed that we can sow, Is edible to longing, But ablative to show. By fundamental palates Those products are preferred Impregnable […]
December 27, 2015
An End In Itself
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. — Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho I’ve been thinking about failure all month, ever since I wrote about it in the […]