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From Stephen Elliott
Barbara Jane Reyes is the author of Diwata (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2010), recently noted as a finalist for the California Book Award. She was born in Manila, Philippines, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is the author of two previous collections of poetry,
The Great Wave
After Hokusai
First, the sea took the shore. She surged and sucked up the sand and gravel, all the soil and clay. She plucked twisted trees from the earth as if they were turnips. Herons nesting in the reeds, wild deer and hunter, she took them too, washed them down her gullet and belched.
...moreAustin 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, and it’s fascinating stuff.
...moreSo, did you like our National Poetry Month project? If you missed any of the poems, check them out here.
Barbara Jane Reyes has some interesting thoughts on poetic tradition.
Virginia Heffernan discusses the way self-publication has lost some of its stigma, and introduces me to a new term: microniche publishing.
...moreThe deadline for entry into the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg poetry prizes is nearing. These are some of the most generous poetry prizes available, and they give a large number of them every year. The Rumpus interviewed Mary Rosenberg last March to discuss the prizes and how she approaches poetry in general.
...moreCharles Bernstein tells us that the University of Alabama Press is having a recession sale on many of the titles in their Modern and Contemporary Poetics series. (Via Culture Industry)
Peerscribe describes itself as a social network by writers, for writers.
...moreReb Livingston has an interesting premium for people who buy a No-Tell Motel book today and tomorrow–a free tarot reading or dream interpretation. We here at The Rumpus are very interested in innovative ways to promote books.
Barbara Jane Reyes, who I haven’t linked to in far too long, has some really interesting things to say about the MFA Industrial Complex.
...moreBilly Collins says we need better poets in the US: “There’s an awful lot of bad poetry out there. I’d say about 87 percent of the poetry in America isn’t worth reading.” Collins may be right–the question is who makes up that 13%.
...moreBarbara Jane Reyes has a good response to the New Yorker article on MFA programs I posted earlier.
At Harriet, Don Share takes on poetry reviews, even though he’s tired of the whole story. I took his post as an opportunity to expound on my own reviewing policies, both as reviewer and editor.
...moreBlogging in the poetry world tends to slow in the summer months in my experience, but we’re not quite there yet, so there’s plenty of bloggy goodness from this week. Here’s a taste.
Charles Bernstein asks if art criticism is fifty years behind poetry.
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Congratulations to Juan Felipe Herrera and August Kleinzahler on their shared National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for 2008. Barbara Jane Reyes has more on Herrera.
Ron Silliman on on anthologies: “It is all but impossible to even characterize the map of poetry today.
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I guess it just took a little time for the poetry blogs to realize that David Orr had been in the NYTBR smack-talking about the lack of greatness in poetry today, because this week, there were lots of responses, from suggestions for Orr to add to his reading list to negations of the importance of greatness to spit-takes.