Another Poem to Love

"Internal documents from BP show that there were serious problems and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far earlier than those the company described to Congress last week. The problems involved the well casing and the blowout preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the chain of events that led to the disaster on … Continue reading I want some people in jail over this

I don't expect she'll friend-request me, since we haven't talked in years for reasons I've gone into before here, but I have to admit I'm feeling torn by it. On the one hand, I feel the rejection all over again, even stronger than I imagined I would. The messed up thing is that I haven't … Continue reading My Mom’s on Facebook

Elisa Gabbert noted this review of an anthology of poetry about Barack Obama's first hundred days in office. The reviewer, Anis Shivani, is pretty brutal about the poems themselves, and I don't have any reason cross him on that since I haven't read them, and also because I don't like occasional poems in general, and … Continue reading Poetry, Obama, Dick-Riding, and E. E. Cummings

I've had some interesting snippets of conversation over the last day or so about my dislike of nostalgia, and it's gotten me thinking about memory and the difference between having a personal comfort with our own past versus Golden-Age nostalgia. I still maintain that the latter is a bad thing, and that that's what Keillor … Continue reading A Little More on Nostalgia

I saw this piece earlier today, but I got so caught up in Garrison Keillor (here, on Twitter, and at The Rumpus) along with my class prep for this evening that I haven't had the chance. Anyway, the article is on memorizing poetry, and the author wants to know how she should do it more … Continue reading How to Memorize Poems

I came across this piece in the NY Times by Garrison Keillor bemoaning the new world of self-publishing via the twitter feed of Austin Kleon, who suggested Keillor should "just put a gun in your mouth & spare us yr 'you missed the good ol' days' monologue." How could I not click on a link … Continue reading Oh, Garrison

There's a Twitter conversation happening on the #poettues hashtag over the question of selling out when it comes to your poetry. The question that started it all was from Robert Lee Brewer: Do you alter your poetry to try for publication? My answer was that if a poem gets rejected a number of times, I'll … Continue reading Selling Out in Poetry

My old friend Neal put this together, and I wanted to share it. Also, if you're a writer and you want to contribute some work, Poets for Living Waters is looking to respond to current disaster. I'm working on a couple of pieces to send them right now.