There is a fascinating essay by David Biespiel in the current issue of Poetry magazine. The tagline reads: “As go America’s poets, so goes American democracy.” I’m still trying to wrap my head around the complex issue of civic engagement in and out of poetry, and the comment chain complicates this even further. Is it [...]
Last night I had the good fortune of reading alongside my friend, the amazing poet, Todd Boss. Here’s an account of the evening:
“Located in the center of the universe,” as the store’s tagline lovingly puts it, Fremont Place Books is a cozy little independent shop that feels very much the center of something. The store is [...]
The Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival, the largest free poetry festival in New York State, runs from April 16-18. Two Toadlily authors will participate in panel discussions during the festival:
On Saturday, April 17, 1 PM, Toadlily editor and poet Meredith Trede will moderate a panel discussion entitled “Conversation: Maintaining the Poetic Self” [...]
Star-struck isn’t something I feel too often. Fondness, respect, admiration—these are regular parts of my life as a reader, in particular. But with a few folks I can’t get past that feeling that the legend of the person overshadows any chance I might have at a normal interaction with them. I love Jim Harrison’s work, [...]
On the plane to the Cayman Islands last week I was asked by an especially chatty grandmother what I do. I didn’t pause. Didn’t fumble around with well, you see….it’s complicated. I just said, “I’m a writer.”
And she believed me.
For the next twenty minutes or so we bantered back and forth about the general cliches [...]
This morning I returned to my high school for Alumni Career Day. It was a little strange to be back, but I was glad to represent the field of writers and to share what little knowledge I have about poetry, editing and publishing. I talked about maintaining a practice, rejection, persistence and the necessity of [...]
In the past few days representatives of the poetry community have been mourning the death of Ai via blogs and Facebook. And yet, as some have noted, there has been little “press” outside of these more personal remembrances, unlike Lucille Clifton’s recent passing. Some have been frustrated by this lack of coverage as though it [...]
I’ve got about 5-10 pages of a critical essay to write and then I’ve pretty much wrapped up my time as a graduate student at the University of Washington. Overall, I am very happy with my experience. One of the highlights was being in the presence of accomplished poets I’ve admired for a long time. [...]
Years ago a mentor told me, “always have something under consideration.” I took her advice seriously and for the past several years I have always had quite a bit of work under consideration at quite a few magazines. Until the last year and a half, nearly all of those were print submissions.
There was a tangible [...]
I have been a teacher in many capacities and environments for several years, but sometimes I still feel like a kid who’s just pretending he knows what he’s doing. For years I led canoe trips in the backcountry of Canada—from 5-45 days in length. Our focus was on leadership development, but I always brought along [...]
