Amy is having an(other) effect on me. She's making me think that I can do more with words than just type them. She's been working on, among other things, three-dimensional stories. That, combined with a trip we recently took to the Jaffe Center for Book Arts, has gotten even me interested in trying something I … Continue reading 3-D Poetry
A New Poetry App for the iPhone
Currently, on my iPhone, I have the following poetry-related apps: Vogon Poetry, Poem Flow (reviewed here), iPhrase (like magnetic poetry), WGBH Poetry (videos mostly), multiple e-reader programs, and now, the app from the Poetry Foundation. I've had the Poetry Foundation app for a few days now and I have to say it's a fun little … Continue reading A New Poetry App for the iPhone
Family and Facebook
I haven't been close to my family outside of my daughter for a long time. Even my sister and I have been distant of late, both overwhelmed by the space between us and the pressures of our lives. (She's had it worse, by far--her husband has had incredible health problems, and the economy caused her … Continue reading Family and Facebook
Leaving NASCAR
I tend to write about political subjects over at Incertus, but this is personal too, and I suppose if I'm going to give David Biespiel crap about not seeing poets involved with politics, I should at least occasionally come through. As I've mentioned before, I grew up in the south, and NASCAR was a part … Continue reading Leaving NASCAR
Poetic Lives Online
Austin Kleon's Newspaper Blackout site (along the same lines as his book) is worth checking out. He's also a more than fair Twitterer. Via Harriet, Andrea Lingenfelter talks about "teaching Bay Area children to translate from Chinese and do concrete poetry—at the same time!" I've just recently (like, hours ago) seen some very similar work, … Continue reading Poetic Lives Online
The Old Bridge
From Fort Lauderdale, drive south. It doesn't matter whether you take the Florida Turnpike or I-95 because you'll drive beyond where they end, through Florida City, off the mainland, into the Keys. Follow the trail Henry Flagler laid out, more or less, when he connected the mainland to Key West with a series of rail … Continue reading The Old Bridge
No Jealousy, Just Admiration
Don't have time for a long post here, but I wanted to get this out there. I finished Sandra Beasley's latest, i was the jukebox (don't know whether to capitalize it or not), and I am in awe of it. Not that I want to ape the style or the voice, not that I look … Continue reading No Jealousy, Just Admiration
Poetic Lives Online
Tara Betts found herself attacked by a particularly ignorant political blogger named Debbie Schlussel over her class at UrbanWordNYC. Betts's response is elegant, measured, and powerful, everything the attack was not. Oscar Bermeo takes on the changes at Harriet and talks about the need for an actual exchange of ideas about poetry. Kaya Oakes wants … Continue reading Poetic Lives Online
A Brush With Jackholery
I almost got into a fight last night, for the first time since junior high school. I've been around fights in the decades between--I had to break up a few when I was a bartender and when I was in the fraternity--but I haven't been a combatant in one since I was in 7th grade. … Continue reading A Brush With Jackholery
More poetry and politics
David Biespiel's scolding essay in the latest issue of Poetry would bug me more if its claims weren't so easy to debunk. Many of the commenters there--and thanks to the Poetry Foundation for not closing them down the way they did the ones at Harriet--did a good job of disemboweling Biespiel's claims by pointing to … Continue reading More poetry and politics
Another Poem to Love 