“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
Jaime Manrique reads from Tarzan My Body Christopher Columbus
I began reading Jaime Manrique’s Tarzan My Body Christopher Columbus over the summer, but because of some eye trouble, my watery itching eyes made it difficult to read. I persevered, however, because the poems valen la pena. As the title suggests, Tarzan My Body […]
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 […]
Alicia Ostriker reads from the volcano sequence
A friend of mine, the Philadelphia poet Joel Colten, on a trip across the USA, stopped to take photographs of Mount Saint Helens, and died when that volcano erupted in 1980. At Joel’s funeral—his body wouldn’t be found for over a year after his […]
NYC From The Inside: NYC through the Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here
Poets, some famous and some not so famous, have been included in NYC From The Inside: NYC through the Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here. This equanimity makes it a very satisfying eventful anthology. I would like to thank George Wallace and Francine […]
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, […]
Annabel Lee reads Oracular Transcendentalism
Times flies and is truly transcendent. Several months ago, in a colder time, I went over to Jersey City where Annabel Lee currently lives in a beautiful apartment that is yet too small to contain all she does and is. There I recorded her reading […]
Daniel W.K. Lee reads from Anatomy of Want
I missed Daniel W.K. Lee’s reading at the Bureau when he was in town. I emailed him and asked if he would read some poems from his new book, Anatomy of Want, so I could share them on my blog. He did right away. Like […]
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 […]
Marcella Durand reads from To husband is to tender
With some books of poetry, you can jump in anywhere, but with Marcella Durand’s To husband is to tender, I would say, “Start at the beginning, and let the book draw you in.” Contemplation, what it means to be together and apart, a Venn […]
Barry Schwabsky reads from Feelings of And
Common comfortable places become uncommon and uncomfortable, common words whose meanings you thought you knew are a puzzle in pieces, and then the puzzle in pieces becomes a thought you know. You see and then you don’t. Some poems are like flashes of light […]
Matt Proctor reads from Single Room Occupancy
If you want to give words to every moment, every thought and sight worth jotting down, you need a notebook though any scrap of paper will do. Bill Kushner was a poet I remember fondly who always had a notebook to write in. Matt […]
