Yearly Archives: 2016

Lynn McGee reads from Heirloom Bulldog

… Beautiful poems often praise repulsive things like Baudelaire’s rotting carcass. Lynn McGee’s poetry also makes the ugly beautiful. This partly has to do with her poetic sense of empathy. When she writes about the rat, we know the rat … Continue reading →

The Night Becomes Thick and Comfortable by Joel Colten and Randal Rupert: read by Peter Bushyeager

9 Oct ’16

… Joel Colten (1950 – 1980) was a poet and photographer who lived in Philadelphia and Manhattan. From 1976 to 1980, he was also coeditor of the literary magazine Hot Water Review. During his brief career, Colten’s poetry appeared widely … Continue reading →

Bernadette Mayer reads from Scarlet Tanager

11 Sep ’16

… Scarlet Tanager is a favorite book of mine because it was the first book Bernadette Mayer published after her stroke, and as I read it I knew that she could still write a poem. I went upstate to visit … Continue reading →

Philip Good reads Coffee Poems

10 Sep ’16

… I was upstate over Labor Day visiting Philip Good and Bernadette Mayer at their beautiful home. It’s been freshly painted red and continues to await guests along a quiet meandering road on the edge of some woods, Bernadette’s Poetry … Continue reading →

Ron Kolm reads from Suburban Ambush

31 Aug ’16

… Ron Kolm and I are both Pennsylvanians who moved to New York City. During his time here, he’s edited magazines and published the work of other poets; The Ass’s Tale by John Farris is a great example of his … Continue reading →

After Apple Picking by Robert Frost

22 Aug ’16

… … My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree Toward heaven still, And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough. But I am … Continue reading →

38

22 Aug ’16

… The last two swallows swoop down over all going toward the barn flying from sight. In ripples of wind out of the west light dies in many clouds and in darkness falls on the pond. Shadows in leaves, the … Continue reading →

Summer Thoughts & Photos

21 Aug ’16

… … July 22 Shall I go for a swim? A frog begins to croak, “Jump in!” … … … July 15 Queen Anne’s Lace although a common simple flower is very difficult to capture. … … July 24, Tompkins … Continue reading →

Ozymandias

19 Aug ’16

… I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer … Continue reading →

Summer Paintings by Charles Burchfield

15 Aug ’16

… Burchfield painted so many summer scenes, I pretty much picked a dozen randomly for this post because they all are so good that it doesn’t matter which ones I choose. When I think of summer, I think of eating … Continue reading →

Learning English: Simple Sentence Syntax

4 Aug ’16

… If you were going to teach English to someone who was just beginning to learn it, what would you teach? There is a game I sometimes play with beginners, a kind of bingo with a die and some beans … Continue reading →

Elaine Equi reads from Sentences and Rain

3 Aug ’16

… Elaine Equi and her husband Jerome Sala came over to my place last week to record some of their poetry. I’d enjoyed hearing Elaine read from her latest book, Sentences and Rain, and was interested to hear that she … Continue reading →