I’ve been studying the broken syntax strewn around cyberspace seemingly like litter, and I’ve decided against my instincts as an editor that it’s not litter at all but an evolving language foreshadowed in the work of James Joyce. When referring to Joyce it’s commonly called stream of consciousness, and I believe there is some justification [...]
Read More...Contemporary poetry could be compared to light pouring through an attic window. The mass of dust particles create a golden bolt, but when evening crowds in, what is remembered? I think of Michael Meyerhofer’s poetry in this way when I survey the riches I’ve amassed on my shelves, tables, floors, and even my bed. His [...]
Read More...(Perhaps You Could Breathe For Me, Martina Reisz Newberry, 2009, 93pp.) Rap is about what’s happening in the hood, it’s about The Man happening to the hood. Algerian rai is similarly the voice of an underclass explaining itself to itself and to the rest of us. What if we had neighbors chanting to us about [...]
Read More...Americans and Australians, among English speakers, are hot shots, expressionists, conjurers. They believe there is no limit to the jobs language can be called on to do. Just as they rolled back geographic frontiers, the Americans and Aussies keep pushing language to its limits and find none. This is by no means to say that [...]
Read More...Bill, It’s Del Marbrook. Her tone reminds me why I could never be a salesman. Now, Honey, it’s Del—that might offer some hope this relationship will survive the winter. But her tone suggests that heavy-of-foot Ole Bill is approaching that phone as if it were medicine, and God only knows what facial expressions are passing [...]
Read More...Order Far From Algiers The Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University in Ohio is celebrating its 25th anniversay. I have the privilege of taking part in this observance as the 2007 winner of the Stan and Tom Wick Prize in poetry. This article by Kyle Roerink, staff writer for The Daily Kent Stater, describes [...]
Read More...Dear and faithful readers, Far From Algiers, my first book of poems, has just been published by Kent State University Press. Perhaps you will be interested in this press release announcing it. I am now 74. I started writing poems when I was 14, and I have never really wanted to do or achieve anything [...]
Read More...Those of you who ordered Far From Algiers from Kent State University Press in advance of last Friday’s publication date have received notice that it’s “on the truck.” Thank you for this vote of confidence. I hope you will be rewarded. If you contact me, I will be happy to inscribe a bookplate for you. [...]
Read More...I don’t know what metrics social scientists use to measure a civilization’s progress and decline. But every time I hear the increasingly inane debate about flip-flopping, every time I hear a slogan or receive a swift-boat e-mail, I think of the progress bars on our computers. We wait more or less patiently as software downloads [...]
Read More...Far From Algiers is my first book of poems. It won the 2007 Stan and Tom Wick Prize and will be published by Kent State University Press later this summer. It may be ordered now. There will also be an audio version.
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