On America's still-living poets
Q: There seems to be an idea that even if poetry itself is alive and well, con­tem­po­rary poetry is rel­e­gated to near obscu­rity, and that argu­ment draws its weight simply from a visit to the local Barnes and Noble, where the poetry sec­tion is minis­cule and more or less entirely com­posed of dead writ­ers. How would you respond to this idea, and what can con­tem­po�

Who am I to argue with cultural forces?
Kent Johnson said this over on Digital Emunction the other day: "Cul­tural forces are to large extent imper­sonal in their ide­o­log­i­cal oper­a­tions, in any case, the choices and ambi­tions of actors in the field more like indexes or effects of the flows and con­tra­dic­tions of those forces tha

They're just not that into us
Complaints that poetry has lost the ordinary reader stick in my craw. No question, our market share is at an all-time low (an historical situation James Wood recently blamed on “the big fat greedy monster of the novel, which sucks all the vital nutrition away for itself.”) And no doubt, more can be done to persuade intellectually curious folks to take an interest. But the news that poetry’s

On the edge of things

Falling... and rising!
I'm thrilled to see that the New Yorker's "Book Bench" blog today takes up James Dickey and his wild poem, "Falling"! I recently lamented, in a blog essay you can read here, the apparent "falling" of Dickey's reputation as a poet... but maybe he's in the air again.  Click