Posts by author
Brian Spears
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Poetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
Interesting conversation going on about a piece in the latest Poetry. Start here at Samizdat, then find further discussion at A Compulsive Reader, Exoskeleton (multiple posts–click around), and back to Samizdat. And since it started over an article written by…
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The Last Book I Loved: The Wordy Shipmates
I fall in love pretty easily, so for me right now it’s Sarah Vowell’s The Wordy Shipmates, which is her take on John Winthrop, Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson of Puritan ancestry fame. I love it because Vowell’s feelings toward…
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Poetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
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…
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Poetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
Whoever wrote this poem lo those many years ago ought to be forced to wear those shorts. I’m really surprised there hasn’t been more of a response to David Orr’s piece in the NY Times Book Review last week. Are…
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Poetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
Happy Singles Awareness Day, everyone. Here’s a Valentine from Louis Zukofsky to help you finish the night off right. AWP wasn’t the only party this past week–Josh Corey has photos and video from the PoetryPalooza at Lake Forest College. I…
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A Questioning Faith
A Review of Dan Albergotti’s The Boatloads I have a special place in my heart for literature that juxtaposes the sacred and profane, that challenges perhaps the most successful meme ever to spring from the human brain: the belief that…
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Poetic Lives Online
AWP is approaching quickly, and though I won’t be there, lots of other poetry folks will be. Raymond Bianchi has a (short) list of restaurants that conference goers might want to check out, and he promises to give out more…
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Poetic Lives Online
Mark Scroggins of Culture Industry spent last weekend Zukofsky-ing in Sussex, and has both a rundown and photos. Jeff Hilson provides further photographic commentary. Odali$qued provides some notes toward a provisional avant-garde. I especially like the part about genitalia being…
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Poetic Lives Online: Random Poetry Links by Brian Spears
Oh, the things I’ve learned since I started doing this little column, the arguments I’ve lurked through, the long-winded defenses of one’s aesthetic choices, et cetera, et cetera. And I’m pulling out the fab stuff just for you. Martin Earl’s…
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Faint Praise for “Praise Song”
As a poet, I appreciate the gesture made toward the arts when the President-elect asks a poet to present a work at his or her inauguration.
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Poetic Lives Online: Random Poetry Links by Brian Spears
The inaugural poem is sucking up a lot of the oxygen in the poetry world for now, and with good reason. An inaugural poem is even rarer than the Olympics, and gives poets the chance to really get their gripe…
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Poetic Lives Online: Random Poetry Links by Brian Spears
With the inauguration of Barack Obama swiftly approaching (though not swiftly enough for some), the return of an inaugural poet/poem has gotten some play.