June 3, 2019
The Doodles of Famous Authors
I’m not shy about my love of words, letters, and even whole sentences. So imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon a truly impressive feat of cultural curation over at […]
May 4, 2018
Stuff People Say When You Tell Them You Write Poetry
1) Is this a hoax? 2) And they pay you for that? 3) And you tell people this? 4) Does your husband know? 5) Is that still a thing? […]
February 14, 2018
On Being an “Annoying Poet Girl” and “Art Monster”
As you might imagine, there was a comical symmetry when I, an often irritating female poet, watched the movie Adult World about . . . an often irritating female poet. […]
October 19, 2017
Patti Smith, Writing on Euclid Avenue
Tuesday, October 17 was a beautiful day in Cleveland. I worked all day downtown, but I managed to slip out for an afternoon walk. I headed north, strolling around the […]
May 17, 2016
The Power of Ritual and Routine?
What power does ritual and routine hold in a writer’s life? It obviously depends on the writer. “Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition,” wrote W.H. Auden […]
October 29, 2015
The box is only temporary: Plath and Apian Imagination
Tuesday was Sylvia Plath’s birthday (October 27), and I’ve found myself thinking of and rereading her “bee poems”–“The Bee Meeting,” “The Arrival of the Bee Box,” “Stings,” “The Swarm,” “Wintering”–five […]
October 25, 2015
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Irrelevance
With the American government sending drones overseas, with our military involved over the past decade in conflict after dirty conflict; with the largest incarcerated population in the world, and […]
October 25, 2014
100 Berrymans
Imagine 100 different John Berrymans, in 100 different replays of the past century. They’re all born on October 25, 1914—in McAlester, in Modesto, in Madison, in Montgomery. Some are privileged, […]
October 17, 2013
The Thin Red Underline
In his essential, slim volume Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography, Roland Barthes elaborated his theory of the punctum–that element of a photograph that “pierces” you, haunts you, pulls you into […]
September 27, 2012
Mix Tape: Do the Right Thing
“Two questions: 1) Do you submit work (poetry, fiction, or nonfiction) to literary journals? 2) Do you subscribe to any literary journals? If the answer to Question 1 is ‘yes’ […]
July 24, 2011
The Best Of: Autumn 1960
a continuation of this series, we now announce the final Old Series nominee for “Best Issue Ever,” selected from The Kenyon Review, 1960-1969. For previous posts in this series, read […]
July 4, 2011
KR in the 60’s: “America goes on, goes on”
a whirlwind survey of the Kenyon Review’s final Old Series decade, part of this special summer blog series and a follow-up to these previous surveys of the 40’s AND 50’s! […]