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Posting here will only be occasional for the next couple of months--I'm in the middle of moving. I'll begin posting regularly again once my life gets settled.

-Tanya

Kay Ryan Reflects on Role as Nation's Poet Laureate Online NewHour 3/25/09

Jeffrey Brown asks Kay Ryan whether she makes "a conscious effort to get [her poetry] down to an essence," or whether that's just the way she thinks:
KAY RYAN: It's apparently the way I think. I would like to say that, if a poem feels really dense, it isn't good. I mean, if ( Read more... )

"Curiously, it is almost impossible to find...modest assessments when one turns to contemporary poetry. Indeed, the problem of neglect or insignificance evaporates in a situation in which, in spite of the vast numbers writing (800 to 1,000 books of poetry are published in the United States per year; thousands of other poets publish in journals and ( Read more... )

Tangled Up In School: Teaching Dylan In Boston NPR March 21, 2009
"I think that [Bob Dylan is] one of the best contemporary American poets, even if you just look at the lyrics stripped of the music. He's been an important link between some of the great poets behind him, like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, and in turn he's been an inspiration and ( Read more... )

Show Your Work!
A poet calls for a new kind of poetry criticism, and a new kind of critic.
by Matthew Zapruder, Poetry Foundation

"Of course there are good reviewers who write interesting, thoughtful, and provocative pieces about American poetry. But look for yourself at the vast majority of reviews in journals, in print and online, and ask ( Read more... )

We Brits: An A-Z hyperguide to the multicultural poets, publishers, and performers changing the face of UK poetry.
by Karen McCarthy, Poetry Foundation

'Oh God, the Royal poem!!' Adam Newey Guardian 3.21.09

The historical list of laureates provides an odd mix of proper poets and political placemen who, regardless of talent, have almost always proved an irresistible target for the barbs of their peers.

Why the Plath Legacy Lives
March 24, 2009 - New York Times
Joyce Carol Oates, Peter D. Kramer, Erica Jong, Andrew Solomon, Elaine Showalter

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