World Class Poetry Blog

Ontario Review, R.I.P.

Here’s the strangest interview question that I’ve ever read:

8 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

(Answer) About two weeks ago. The first of the new year.

Rob McLennan knows how to get right to the core.

Poetry comes alive in the hands of Mr. Excitement.

You have until tomorrow to answer Don Wentworth’s question.

Whatever happened to American poetry?

More reasons to download the World Class Poetry Toolbar.

Everything you ever wanted to know about poetry + John Ashbery.

Here’s your chance to support freedom of speech.

Get published @ Teenypoet.

Ah, plagiarism.

Reginald Shepherd on New American Poets.

Slamming the Bluz in Charlotte.

Openness, inclusiveness. Is that possible in poetry?

“Outside the Flood Walls” by Edward Byrne.

Slam event: audience participation.

Veterans against the Iraq War.

Making sense of Mamet, the poet and the man.

Simic on time.

Read Ted Kooser’s penultimate column.

Poets and the storms of depression.

A love poem by Frank O’Hara.

Rilke’s “The Swan”.

Doctrine of Signatures.

The National Book Critics Circle recommends ….

A “Bard Double-Dactyled (in Sioux City) and Other Odd Pieces” (including one on Humpty Dumpty).

Lebanese art and poetry that unites.

A poem for Heath Ledger.

Recombinant Poetics.

The Library of Congress Blog is nominated.

Why poets should blog.

Can you write 30 poems in 30 days?

The wisest words ever written:

So the message of this post (I really should try to have a message, shouldn’t I?) is that you shouldn’t get caught up in wondering what’s going to happen to your poetry after you write it; you should just write it.

This short story contest had no winner and some entrants are plain pissed off about it. Oh, well. Better 10,000 pissed of losers than one mediocre writer thinking he deserves some kind of credit.

Stumbling Verse, a form for a new millennium.

Bill Moyers asks, “What books should the next president read?” I don’t really care as long as he reads more than the summaries of news stories presented to him by his press corps and the Sunday comics. I’d like him to have more than a fifth grade reading apprehension level.

VQR solves for the X factor. But if your submission is one of those that is automatically deleted then you’d be on the reverse side of this equation. That 4.6% wouldn’t mean a thing to you except that your submission would be included in it. Honestly, I’d have thought that figure would be higher.

When will the children’s fable be considered serious literature?

Street poetry is a “major art” and therapy for the homeless.

Is it erotic to have two vaginas?

The Princess of Black Poetry celebrates black history.

Asking what the poem wants. I just always assume my poems want to make love. You know want it, Baby! You know you want it!

Write a poem today. Then revise it tomorrow.

Looking for a place to publish your chapbook? Try Shadowbox Press.

Talking Heads’ David Byrne discusses indie music and how artists can control their own destiny. Much of this applies to literary artists as well.

The new Lincoln? God, I hope not.

Billy’s crazy idea about paying people to read his blog. Will it work?

(Source) Dawson performed a poem about New Orleans, calling it “the vagina of America.”

Question: Is the poem the vagina, or is it New Orleans? I’d like to see it. The poem, I mean.

When I read this I thought gay poetry was illegal in the UK. It turns out that blasphemy is the culprit.

Soldier who fought in Afghanistan publishes a book of poems.

Today’s poem is by Li-Young Lee.

World War II veteran/poet kicks Caligula in the nuts while defending the Constitution.

Disclaimer: This is a poetry blog, not a political one. Although it’s hard to separate the two. When discussing politics on this blog, it is not intended to endorse a particular political point of view or candidate. It is simply to react to what someone else has done or said or to comment on some aspect of poetics. If I were to express a political point of view outside of the realm of poetry it would likely be from a libertarian POV. But since this is not a political blog, I’ll have to claim the Fifth. (of whiskey)

Borders is sponsoring an Open Door Poetry Contest.

Edward Byrne is one year old.

Did you write anything today?

How to live a long and happy life.

Does poetry ever speak to life?

Poetry may not be popular, but …

This poet feels dirty critiquing your work.

On poetry and jazz.

Line Reading Series: Poetic MP3s.

Do you publish poetry, your own or someone else’s, on your blog? Do you record poetry podcasts and upload them to your blog? Let me know. If I like what I see or hear, I’ll link to it from the World Class Poetry Blog.