– to judge about the quality of contemporary American poetry, but what I can say, is this: the anthology The Best American Poetry 2015 comprises a handful of really great poems But hold on; this isn’t going to be a review. I only wanted to tell you about two of the poems I really liked,…
Category: AM
Becoming bird
In 2010 Masahisa Fukase’s The Solitude of Ravens was, rather unforseen, selected as the best photo-book of the years 1986-2009. Unforeseen because the book is a kind of an obscure masterpiece, not really that well known. from Fukase: The Solitude of Ravens The Japanese artist Masahisa Fukase (1934-2012) made the picture series Karasu (Ravens) – the works the book is based upon –…
Heart of a Dog
I’m listening to the soundtrack from Laurie Anderson’s film Heart of a Dog. Heart of a Dog is Laurie Anderson’s memoir in the form of a fantastical documentary film. The dog in question is the late Lolabelle, a rat terrier adopted by Ms. Anderson and her late husband, Lou Reed, who died in 2013. As did Lolabelle. The…
Oh hell, here’s that dark wood again –
What I like about Kim Addonizio’s poem “Divine”? Actually … a lot; but most of all how she combines the divine and the profane and puts herself in Dante’s shoes, as if they were her own. And of course — they are! Divine by Kim Addonizio Oh hell, here’s that dark wood again. You thought you’d…
Notes on the craft of poetry
Further notes on The best american poetics Mark Strand says: I believe that all poetry is formal in that it exists within limits, limits that are either inherited by tradition or limits that language itself imposes. Form it should be remembered is a word that has several meanings, some which are near opposites. form has to…
On becoming a poet
from: The weather of words, poetic invention, by Mark Strand
The best american poetics
In his introduction to The Best American Poetry 1991, Mark Strand, my favorite guide in the sphere of aesthetics these days, uses his own personal background (which I guess will be recognizable for many of us) to illuminate the difference between poetry and prose. Here is my attempt to summarize some his arguments: My parents…
An ode to the village idiot
YOU KNOW: I have been thinking a lot about ugliness lately … my most recent thoughts on the theme is today published by ZETEO Iiu Susiraja, copyright Iiu Susiraja . Money has the property of being able to buy anything, to take possession of all objects . . . What I am and what I…
Indeed I Was Pleased with the World
There is so little to say, and so much time in which to say it. – Charles Wright Jacques-Henri Lartigue
The ideal writing life
I am a big fan of Virginia Woolf. In my opinion The Waves is one of the top 3 novels ever written. And I am also, as so many of you, very fascinated by her essays, and regard A Room of One’s Own as obligatory reading. I have, until now, considered Woolf’s advice on the importance…
sub rosa 