The Whole Frey For All

The smoking gun in the whole Smoking Gun examination into the James Frey phenomenon is actually the ridiculousness of a book such as this gaining the kind of popularity it…

Jen Benka is way cool

As posted last week, I heard Jen Benka read at “Battle Hill”, the Brooklyn Reading Series located on Smith Street, at Bar Below–a bar in the basement of the restaurant…

On the way from the subway

A mother and son with no front teethTwo slices of squished pizzaOne man without legsTwo babies in red capsOne man with seven facial piercingsThe tail of an animalToo many discarded…

Readings of the week

Tomorrow Night: Two Jordan Davis EventsTHE MILLION POEMS SHOW Wednesday, January 116:30 pmBowery Poetry Club308 Bowery212.614.0505http://www.bowerypoetry.com and then 8 pmJordan Davis & Susan WheelerThe Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church131…

Poetics List, Blogging, Comments & Ongoing Commentary

I wasn’t surprised by Silliman’s recent post about the ever-declining number of posts on the Poetics Listserv, probably partly due to a shift in single-voiced blogs–upwards of 700 listed on…

Poem by Zang Er

Nu Shu: The Secret Language of Women* Hey you guys, Shut up! From sight progress by Zang Er Translated from Chinese with Rachel Levitsky *NuShu literally translated as ‘female script’…

Marjorie Perloff on Stein & Eliot

Sporadic posts due to overwhelming deadlines, but I’ve been reading Perloff’s 21st-Century Modernism: The “New” Poetics, the introduction to which is reprinted here. Lots of ideas, but loved this quote:…

Paris Review’s DNA of Literature Reveals All

I’m a fan of the Paris Review. Who wouldn’t be? All those great interviews. Pretty heady stuff. Recently I noticed a newish feature, this DNA of Literature. Remarkably the Paris…

People are talking about Etgar Keret

A good short story can be like a bomb going off in the middle of one’s life. It can also be, as Walter Mosley has said, like a small gem,…

Strangest Present

Hidamari no tami arrived today from a friend in San Fransisco. After much pensive interaction with this objet, I began to feel a little like King Kong poking at Fay…

Canadian Christmas Rituals

One of the stranger things I miss about Christmas in Canada is the Queen’s Christmas message. Why should this white-haired tertiary head-of-state be so moving? Every year I resist, and…