OPTIMISM I write poemsthey don't get publishedbut they will I'm waiting for a letter with good newsmaybe it will arrive the day I diebut it will come for sure. the world's not ruled by governments or moneybut by the peoplea hundred years from nowmaybebut it will be for sure. Nazim Hikmet2 September l957Leipzig
Category Archives: poets and poetry
“I misquoted the Bible on national television”: Coleman Barks
Some of the best of our literary reviews have had the most trouble putting up a website. Perhaps the nature of literature — a desire to create something out of nothing that can last — is opposed to the nature of the web. The Internet never forgets — for better or worse. Human memory worksContinue reading ““I misquoted the Bible on national television”: Coleman Barks”
Yosemite backcountry July 2010: It’s still coming down
At the wilderness center in Yosemite Valley yesterday, I overheard the rangers discussing in amazement the weather, which surprised forecasters by producing not just some rain, but substantial and painful hail this week in the mountains. From last Wednesday, in the early afternoon at Lower Ottoway Lake: Those innocent-looking clouds built up and gave usContinue reading “Yosemite backcountry July 2010: It’s still coming down”
Love and extinction
An amazing true story, via poet Kimiko Hahn and Daily Poetry. Hahn's new book, Toxic Flora, was inspired by science stories in The New York Times. Xenicus Longipes The four known species of bush wren in New Zealand are, by now, endangered or extinct. Possessing trifling tails and wings, none fly far— instead they hopContinue reading “Love and extinction”
The world boiled down to a drop
From a nice (if much too short) interview with the great new poet Vera [corrected] Pavlova: There’s a line in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God that reads: “She didn’t realize she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop.” Your poems feel that way to me—tiny verses withContinue reading “The world boiled down to a drop”
Let Poetry Die (and be reborn again, outside academia)
So argues a New England poet: I love poetry. But as far as the public is concerned, poetry died with the modernists. No poets ever filled their shoes. And though there remain a number of minor masters and one hit wonders, few passing pedestrians could name a poet from the last 50 to 60 yearsContinue reading “Let Poetry Die (and be reborn again, outside academia)”
Funny-but-wise poem about Paris and dogs
You don't come across too many funny-but-wise poems in the world today, for whatever reason. Sharp, cutting, intense, brilliant, shocking poems, sure, but funny? Not so much. So here — let's celebrate one such surprise winner, from Poetry Daily: Disgust There's a preponderance of dog shit in Paris but no one says so, attracted toContinue reading “Funny-but-wise poem about Paris and dogs”
A raindrop’s journey
The Los Angeles Times continues to be devastated by cutbacks, but nonetheless the book section under David Ulin continues to discover great works overlooked in the rush to the obvious bestsellers. Today, perfectly timed for our weather, comes word of a California poet, Don Thompson, who lives in Buttonwillow and writes so quietly that evenContinue reading “A raindrop’s journey”
Only Russians can still write love poetry
So says, in effect, Vera Pavlova: Multiplying in a column M by F by Vera Pavlova Multiplying in a column M by F do we get one or two as a result? May the body stay glued to the soul, may the soul fear the body. Do I ask too much? I only wish theContinue reading “Only Russians can still write love poetry”
Science and poetry: what they have in common
While confronting — on the page and in person — those who wield shotguns and bulldozers, John Kinsella in Poetry drops in a fascinating digression about what poetry and science have in common: The language of poetry, even in its most lyrical modes, is a language of specific usage—poetry is about arrangement, selection, and presentationContinue reading “Science and poetry: what they have in common”
Kit Stolz 