Line tamer.
Here is the text, courtesy of the Academy of American Poets, of Elizabeth Alexander’s “Praise Song for the Day,” the poem she read at Barack Obama’s Inauguration. Nice to see the brief tradition of the inaugural poem back; this is only the fourth time a poem has been read at an Inauguration. The first was Read More …
You gotta love google alerts. Some recent links in my inbox that made me smile: From Lorcaloca: Hottie of the Week From VowelMovers: The Day That Poetry Became Jennifer Aniston NAKED From Andrew Demcak’s site: Favorites From Dustin Brookshire’s blog I Was Born Doing Reference Work In Sin: You Voted…You’re Fan Faves are… (and be Read More …
It’s Pear Slip‘s birthday! Officially released December 13 2007, Pear Slip had its coming out party on that rainy night here in NYC. Let’s take a look back at the year (click on the links to see the related posts): I’ve read from Pear Slip four times this year: in February as part of the Read More …
Today is my little sister’s wedding. Back in January when she and her boyfriend announced their engagement they asked if I would read a poem at their ceremony. Actually, she asked how I felt about e. e. cummings and I said, no, no no, everyone does that, I’ll find you something. So I set to Read More …
I had my first acupuncture session last night. It was a start. I go back tomorrow for round two as Dr. Cai works on breaking up the marble slab that has become by back, shoulders and neck. While I was lying on the table trying to meditate and keep my head clear, this poem from Read More …
I heart the Canadian poet and classicist Anne Carson. I was introduced to her work during grad school by my friend Suzanne Hancock (also from Canada and also an amazing poet; check out her Another Name for Bridge). I had heard much about Anne’s Autobiography of Red and Suzanne lent me her copy. I read it in Read More …
Happy Leap Day. So last night I attended the University of Michigan at Carnegie Hall concert thanks to some tickets from a new friend and colleague, Tom Wisniewski. We were in Box 1 on the first tier, practically part of the orchestra. I mused “this must be what it feels like to be Queen” as Read More …
A conversation started on GoodReads in response to my line “Remind me to destroy my fragments folder before I die” when I was commenting on Elizabeth Bishop’s Edgar Allan Poe & The Juke-Box, the volume of fragments and unpublished poems Alice Quinn put together. It’s funny, some would argue that if a writer really didn’t want Read More …
It snowed tonight. I forgot about the reflective glow of the snow at night under the street lamps, and even where there are no lights, the air illumined by that eerie rusty orange light, as if I were on Mars if Mars had an atmosphere that could support life, a sky with clouds that catch Read More …
I took Greg along to Phil Levine’s 80th Birthday Tribute at The Great Hall at Cooper Union last night (and he took me to a great sushi bar afterward! Double win!). Another packed house, just like at the Galway Kinnell tribute earlier this year. The proceedings were filled with the usual humor that surrounds a Read More …