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THE GHETTOIZATION OF POETRY
Stephen “Stephanie” Burt, Harvard professor and distinguished poetry critic There is always an assumption that anthologies and categories of ‘poems about X’ are good for poetry and X. Why? Even if our...
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I WROTE YOU IN DESPAIR
Drowning, one inch sun, You shone, once, On everyone, Sublime in a sublime sky, Spectacular in my eye, Able to walk among Towering subjects of poems, You dissolve, now, in a glass, Small, and on your...
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MARY SZYBIST HAS WON THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
The 2013 National Book Award Winner in poetry: Mary Szybist. “The unprotected eye cannot look too long at the sun, and the unprotected poem cannot be too long looked at.” —Thomas Brady Scarriet has...
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IMAGE AND WORD: SHOWING VS. TELLING IN POETRY
“Show Don’t Tell” —Writers Workshop mantra We nearly always assume showing, or impressionism, is bound to produce finer poetry than telling. However—and in spite of Poe’s admonition against the...
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UNDERSTANDING WHAT? THE TEXTBOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
In the United States in 1949, every other college student had his college education paid for by the GI Bill. Government sponsored college loans didn’t happen until 1958 (Sputnik). During the...
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PART TWO — UNDERSTANDING POETRY, IF YOU DARE
In Part I, we did a close reading of the influential poetry textbook Understanding Poetry’s introductory chapter. We asserted that Understanding Poetry’s editors, New Critics Cleanth Brooks and...
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ALL I GO THROUGH—new scarriet poem
Perfection is the living presence Living without sense or essence Of symbol. Living in present tense, Control of wavering coincidence Is not done with metaphor’s lie; God as lamb is a sham, but not...
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AND SO I WENT WITH HER
And so I went with her Into the leaves that were shining, Into the leaves, I went with her gaily, We held hands, And kissed occasionally. Better leave the breathing To one who has the will To smother...
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THERE WAS A CHASTE KISS
There was a chaste kiss That played on our lips For a moment or two— To have such a kiss What would a soul that loves those lips not do? A familiar name Stayed on our lips For a moment or two— To swim...
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THERE IS A RADICAL ERROR
There are two ways to respond to any impressive performance: “Bravo!” or “How did you do that?” The second response will sometimes unnerve the performer, and of course it’s also the basis of...
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A STONE’S THROW FROM TINTERN ABBEY
Professor Robert Archambeau. Don’t be fooled by that knowing look. William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” concerns neither childhood, loss, nor Tintern Abbey. The mistaken readings of this famous poem...
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A NOEL COWARD POEM PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME
By way of introduction we would like to simply point out the loneliness of this poem, how it captures the whole ‘sophisticated, outsider’ culture of modern life from Pound to Eliot to Auden to...
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I HAVE NOTHING BUT THE NEED FOR MONEY
The homeless need to give me money. I have a mortgage and need it more. The banks are depending on me to get rich. Should we care about the flea that makes the vagabond itch? Life goes upward and...
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THE BEST OF THE BEST OF 2013
You know these Best Poetry Books of 2013 Lists? Not one has induced us to buy or read the books. A description like this, for instance, is not going to make us the least interested in a book of poems;...
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HER FACE HAS THE BEAUTY OF MUSIC
Unable to say what pleasure of this kind is, I thought of love deprived of sound; If love’s moan were not allowed, strange the bliss To silent performance strangely bound, Love’s fate, to have no...
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WHY ART IS CONSERVATIVE
We should never confuse artistic place with artistic spirit, nor either one of these with artistic truth. Just as the Jews and the early Christians measured everything against Rome, capital of Empire,...
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THERE’S NO PROFIT IN IMPARTIALITY, SO THERE IS NONE
There’s no profit in impartiality, so there is none. If Republicans cheat, only Democrats complain—since they are partisan, they are not believed. If a football team cheats, only their opponents...
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THE SMOKE OF SPEECH
When I’m away from you I’m lost in grief, A grief stretching on to greater sorrow; Whether mean or kind, the world’s a thief, The prize, you, a prize more prized tomorrow. With each degree of intimacy...
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POETRY, META-MODERNISM, AND LEONARDO DA VINCI
It might help us to speak not only of what poetry can do, but of what it cannot do. Seth Abramson is excited about what he calls meta-modernism: I believe that poetry is on the cusp of something big—a...
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RUN FROM LOVE
Run from love. You will lose your sleep. You will lose your sanity Among everything you keep: Letters of theirs with marks one can hardly see. Run from love. How many times Will great triumphs Sink...
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