Thomas Brady: the simpleton who writes it all
In the 365 days of 2014, Scarriet brought you half that many original items: poems of lyric poignancy, articles on the popular culture, essays of Literary Criticism, the occasional humor piece, and the Literary Philosophy March Madness Tournament—in which Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Freud, Baudelaire, Woolf, De Beauvoir, Marx, Maimonides, Wilde, Poe, Emerson, Wordsworth, Pope, Wollstonecraft, Butler, Rich, Frye, Mallarme, Adorno, and 44 others sought immortality against one another in an orgy of wit and game.
Without further ado, here (with publication dates) are the most notable of the past year:
1. The One Hundred Greatest Hippie Songs 2/13. This wins based on numbers. Over 15,000 views for this post alone in 2014, and it is averaging 120 views per day for the last 3 months, with views increasing, nearly a year after its publication. It’s always nice when an article has legs like this. We’re not sure what ‘search engine magic’ has made 100 Greatest Hippie Songs so popular. Prophetically, in the piece, we wrote, “All American music is hippie music.”
2. This Novel Has More Information Than You Need 9/18. An essay provocative and charming at once.
3. No Boobs! 11/27. Hilarious (part two) satiric commentary on the December issue of Vanity Fair
4. The Problem With Rhetoric 5/1. Pushing the intellectual envelope is perhaps what we do best. In this essay we argue that reason does not exist.
5. Integration of Poetry and Life 11/3. Another nice essay of essential Scarrietesque provocation smoothly rendered.
6. Marjorie Perloff, Adam Kirsch & Philip Nikolayev at the Grolier 9/15. Wearing a journalist’s hat, we meet Perloff, debate her, win her over, and demolish Concrete Poetry for our readers, as well.
7. Poe and the Big Bang: “The Body and the Soul Walk Hand in Hand” 3/10. Poe does most of the lifting here; a crucial addition to Scarriet’s campaign to lift the slander-fog hiding the world’s greatest mind.
8. Badass, Funny, But Alas Not Critic-Proof 6/27. Tough love for the poet/professor David Kirby. And for those who fret Scarriet is too rancorous, relax; ‘The Kirb’ is still a FB friend. We don’t flatter—that’s the secret.
9. Is Gay Smarter Than Straight? 2/3. Only Scarriet would dare to ask—and really answer this question.
10. Rape Joke II 6/14. We delivered a true poem; it offended one of our loyal readers for not being feminist enough; even though our poem was true, it was somehow supposed as an insult against Lockwood. We stand by our poem which is true, if imitative. We value originality, but since when was art that imitates a bad thing? We also admit we wrote the poem to become well-known. We played it up on twitter. So what? Scarriet believes everyone deserves to be famous.
11. Poe v. Wordsworth 8/18. March Madness contests are always excuses for brilliant essays. We made use of a wonderful book: Michael Kubovy’s The Psychology of Perspective in Renaissance Art.
12. “I Still Do” 10/13 Nice poem.
13. Chin & Weaver at the Grolier 7/21. Meeting up with California-based Marilyn Chin at a reading becomes an excuse to write an essay on the laws of poetic fame.
14. Painters & Artists Need to Shut Up 6/23. Usually we pick on the poets.
15. Rage In America 7/7. A political corrective to Jim Sleeper’s Fourth of July essay.
16. Poetry Hot 100 10/8. Scarriet releases these now-famous lists several times a year. Valerie Macon topped this one.
17. What Does The History of Poetry Look Like 12/2. We often bash T.S. Eliot and the Modernists; here we lay down a genuinely insightful appreciation of Eliot’s Tradition.
18. Valerie Macon! 10/6. The credentialing complex destroyed Macon. We did a radical thing. We looked at her poetry, after she graciously sent samples. Memo to the arrogant: her poetry is good.
19. 100 Greatest Folk Songs 11/17. Not just a list: an assessment aimed at revival. Don’t just reflect the world. Change it.
20. The Avant-Garde Is Looking For A New (Black) Boyfriend 11/8. A popular zeitgeist post inspired by Cathy Hong, which got po-biz stirred up for a few days.
21. Religion Is More Scientific Than Science 12/15. An interesting discussion of free-will. Yes, we take comments.
22. Poetry, Meta-Modernism, & Leonardo Da Vinci 1/6. Da Vinci compares poetry and painting in fascinating ways.
23. De Beauvoir v. Rich 4/22. Scarriet’s March Madness contest yields essay on Behaviorism and Feminism.
24. Sex, Sex, Sex! 10/19. An interesting essay (obviously) in typical Scarriet (Are you serious?? We are.) mode.
25. Philip Nikolayev 11/15. An excuse to try out ideas while praising a poet and friend.
26. “Poetry Without Beauty Is Vanity” 10/17. A lyric poem which ‘gets’ rap.
27. Harold Bloom v. Edmund Wilson 8/13. Wilson was a real force in March Madness and so is this essay.
28. Fame: Is It Really Hollow? 7/2. An exciting essay using Scarriet standbys The Beatles and Poe.
29. 100 Greatest Rock Songs Of All Time 5/9. The definitive list. Another constantly visited post.
30. 100 Essential Books of Poetry 5/21. People love lists. We get it now.
31. “Not Everyone Is Beautiful” 6/5. A lovely little poem.
32. All Fiction Is Non-Fiction 5/19. Scarriet makes the counter-intuitive simple.
33. The Good Economy 12/30. We nail a simple but brain-teasing truth which rules us all.
34. Fag Hags, Cock Teases, and Richard Wagner 11/11. A bitter essay on a complex topic.
35. 100 Greatest Jazz Vocal Standards 10/14. And the Scarriet hits just keep on coming.
36. Hey Lao Tzu 10/27. Scarriet takes down the wisest of the wise.
37. Ben Mazer At The Grolier 10/20. The Neo-Romantic genius gets the Scarriet treatment.
38. “A Holiday Poem” 12/14. An offensive poem written from a persona; it’s not our opinion.
39. Misanthrope’s Delight 6/11. An amusing list which makes light of misanthropy.
40. “What Could Be More Wrong Than A Poem Stolen From A Song?” A lyric gem.
And that’s our Scarriet top 40 for 2014!!
Be sure to read these if you missed them!
Scarriet thanks all our readers!
And especially the great comments! You know who you are! Always welcome and encouraged!
Happy New Year, everyone!
