When I began to read William Considine’s new book, Continent of Fire, I was immediately drawn to a poem early on called “Library and Book Sale.” It made me want to read more. It is about falling in love with … Continue reading

When I began to read William Considine’s new book, Continent of Fire, I was immediately drawn to a poem early on called “Library and Book Sale.” It made me want to read more. It is about falling in love with … Continue reading
Travel, a trip somewhere new, or a return to a land you love, always restores body and soul. Poetry, like travel, can do that too. In fact, I was recently inspired reading Defying Extinction, a new book of poems by … Continue reading
Alicia Ostriker’s The Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog begins with a quote by Gertrude Stein: A very important thing is not to make up your mind that you are any one thing. The Old Woman, the Tulip, and … Continue reading
The first poem in How Much? questions the value of poetry. Why does that Urinal signed by Marcel Duchamp continue to go up in price while the poems of Frank O’Hara do not? while the other arts add valueto … Continue reading
I attended the reading for the anthology, Pathetic Literature, that had been organized by its editor, Eileen Myles at Karma Books on East Third Street near Avenue A. The place was packed. Besides Eileen, Jerome Sala, Sparrow, and Morgan Bassichis … Continue reading
Last month, I saw Jeff Wright read at the Tompkins Square Library and really enjoyed the poems. He read from several of his books, and also a poem he had recently written. I asked him if I could come over … Continue reading
Last Saturday, when I attended a poetry reading at the Jefferson Market Library, I recorded the whole thing. My friend, the teacher and poet, Scott Hightower, had curated it and did the introductions as well. The poets, Skye Jackson, … Continue reading
I asked Anthony Cappo if I could record him reading from his new book, When You’re Deep In A Thing. Anthony is a born storyteller whose stories crystalize into poems that are personal and universal because they draw you … Continue reading
Estha Weiner and I were supposed to read together last summer in Brooklyn, but unfortunately I had to be out of the city. Last week, I was happy to hear Estha read at KGB from her new book, This Insubstantial … Continue reading
Facebook is its own MFA program. When I wanted to be a poet back in the late 1960s, artists and writers gravitated to hip cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, to name just a few, but … Continue reading
When I arrived in NYC in the fall of 1979, one of the first things I did was to go to Saint Mark’s Church and join a poetry workshop at the Poetry Project. After all, poetry was why I’d come. … Continue reading