“One of the marvels of the world is the sight of a soul in prison holding the keys in its hand.” Rumi The poet Scott Hightower learned that Life goes on after his partner of forty-one years suddenly died of a heart attack in […]
Category Archives: American Poets
Before and After, The Metamorphosis of a Poet: Linda Kleinbub reads from Cover Charge
Some paths leading to the craft of poetry are certainly paved with serendipity. Take for example, Linda Kleinbub, who, in a round about way, came to poetry by going on a reality TV show called Ten Years Younger. Married with two children, Linda went […]
Three poems with Art Attached: Hightower, Kolm & Yorty
A few months ago, via email, Scott Hightower sent me his poem, “The Young Man Holding an Empty Glass,” accompanied by a nineteenth century painting and his translation in Spanish. Last week in the mail—or was it two weeks ago?—Ron Kolm sent me his poem, […]
Alicia Ostriker reads from The Mother/Child Papers
I read The Mother/Child Papers in one sitting. Perhaps it was so accessible because I was sitting by the Atlantic Ocean, at the same time of year as the book begins, in early May, but decades later. I like serendipity. With the added momentum […]
Elaine Sexton reads from Drive
Life, we all come to realize, even if we never read Heraclitus, is in constant motion, which is one reason why I walked over to 2 Horatio Street last Monday to record Elaine Sexton reading from Drive, her new book of poems about to […]
Maya Angelou reads “Still I Rise,” “No No No No,” and “On the Pulse of Morning”
Some poets become so famous that other poets who are not famous, and there are many more of those, think that something must be wrong with a poet who rises so high in her own lifetime that even people who read no poetry at […]
Reuben Gelley Newman
I read with Reuben Gelley Newman at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn a while back and enjoyed his work; he sang a song too, which is something I always like. I asked him then and there if I could include him on my blog, […]
Ridgewood in the House: poems by Ama Birch
Ama Birch got funding to talk to people in Ridgewood, Queens, hear their stories, and then make poems out of what she heard. Ridgewood is where Ama lives, and she knows it like the back of her hand. This current work is reminiscent of […]
Melinda Wilson reads at KGB
I was so happy to go and listen to Melinda Wilson read at KGB that I couldn’t wait to get there. Her poems are sexy and witty and when they are angry, they smile. Her ability to focus on an image and stay there centers […]
Terence Degnan reads from I Can Wonder Anything
Earlier this summer, just as the pandemic was easing up, and we could gather in crowds, out in the open air again, there was a poetry reading in Gowanus that I went to, right by the canal, a beautiful spot, and I got to […]
Lamont Steptoe reads Etheridge Knight
Etheridge Knight and Lamont Steptoe were good friends. Shortly before he died, Etheridge laid his hands on Lamont, and his last message to him was: “Keep poetry alive!” When The Painted Bride Quarterly put together an issue dedicated to Etheridge Knight, Lamont contributed. This […]
Frank Walsh reads a poem
In the 70s when Frank Walsh and I were both going to Temple, me for the second time and he for the first—we worked on a poetry magazine called Hybris, half hybrid, half hubris—It was Frank’s idea. We managed, by hook or by crook, […]
