poetic lives online

So the big news for Rumpus Poetry Book Club members is that our chat with Elizabeth Alexander will take place on Friday November 5 at 8:00 p.m. EST, 5:00 p.m. PST. Be ready to wow her with your questions about…

I realize that NBA basketball is too pop culture-y for us at The Rumpus, but the poetry contest that the Miami Herald put together for the arrival of LeBron James has been too good to pass up. P. Scott Cunningham…

Jonathan Farmer has some ideas on ways people can support poetry in the digital age. I really support his fifth one, which suggests getting web designers and programmers involved in the world of online poetry, because formatting a poem with…

Harriet points to an article in Newsweek about literature in Mexico, and then writes “Recently, Mexico has seen a surge in independent publishing houses willing to publish new writers. Meanwhile, the numbers of female writing students, and of writing collectives…

The Essential American Poets series selection this week is Carl Sandburg. I’d never heard his voice before, and it was nothing like I’d expected. I suppose I’d assumed he sounded mid-western, Chicagoan, perhaps deep and barrel-chested. Nope. I thought about…

Jenny Hendrix in The New Yorker wades into the question of whether or not song lyrics are poetry. She’s responding to Kristen Hoggatt at The Smart Set, who’s responding to Billy Collins in the Wall Street Journal. I have my…

The Nepotist, if you’re unaware, is an online journal run by a person who publishes his/her friends, and does so anonymously. What’s the over/under, do you think, on someone either deliberately or accidentally revealing The Neoptist’s identity? Should we start…

The great MFA usefulness debate continues with a piece by Lev Raphael. (Here’s my contribution if you’re interested.) Barbara Jane Reyes gives Reginald Dwayne Betts’ book four of five stars. I agree completely, and I’m using Shahid Reads His Own…

Let’s have some fun on the interwebs, shall we? It’s funny that contractors at the Dylan Thomas center in Swansea made the same spelling mistake twice, writing “lighting” for “lightning.” With my students, it’s usually “lightening,” which makes for some…

Jessica Smith wrote a post about the incivility in the comment stream at Ron Silliman’s blog, and in comment streams in general. Silliman has since turned off his comments, and I can’t say I blame him. Comment streams can become…