The prose of Jamaica Kincaid’s See Now Then has a frustrated and frustrating music, the rhythm of minds trying to resolve the past and the present and memories that might be fantasies, likely are fantasies, or may be the future.…
Category: The Literary World
How to Profit from Writing Negative Poetry Reviews
Every now and again someone on a listserv or blog makes a call for more negativity in poetry reviewing, but only rarely does anyone pick up a poison pen in response. This state of affairs would seem to suggest that…
So What If Poetry Is Dead?
The latest round of poetry-is-dead/no-it-isn’t (are we up to one-a-month yet?) kicked off with a silly article in The Washington Post responding to Richard Blanco’s inaugural poem. As might be expected, such a brightly silly piece flying in such a…
Non-Canonical
Is it a coincidence when an article bemoaning the disintegration of the poetic canon names only white male poets? Perhaps, in the case of this piece written by Sean Bishop, it is; he does, after all, manage more diversity when…
The Concept of Consent: A Note on Poetics
One of the quickest ways to get attention in the poetry world is to create a “movement”, call it ____ Poetics or Poetry. If a few people catch on and write in accord with what you say, then you’re a…
Naipaul’s Comments Were Offensive, But What about the Question?
By now, VS Naipaul’s misogynistic comments been thoroughly mocked in the manner they deserve. What has been largely overlooked, however, is that as Amy Fallon reported in the Guardian, he made these claims after having been asked “asked if he…