Noritake Sestina Relish Butter Tray (pictured) Wag's Revue is offering up a "Syllable Sestina Challenge" based on an exercise from the Oulipo listserv, in which a sestina is composed with only six syllables. Poetry editor Will Guzzardi admits it may... Continue reading

This is a love letter. Not an exegesis. Not a manifesto. Not a new notion. This is a thank you note. I met Andrew Hughes in January 2002, during my final residency at the Bennington College Writing Seminars. Andy was... Continue reading

He always demanded an audience: yet in the end, though he included the critic, though his self-consciousness grew noisy and acute, his finest efforts seemed mainly for his peers. Constance Rourke "Chest Fever" was written as a reaction to "The... Continue reading

He always demanded an audience: yet in the end, though he included the critic, though his self-consciousness grew noisy and acute, his finest efforts seemed mainly for his peers. Constance Rourke "Chest Fever" was written as a reaction to "The... Continue reading

"Nobody should experience anything they don’t need to, if they don’t need poetry bully for them. I like the movies too. And after all, only Whitman and Crane and Williams, of the American poets, are better than the movies." Frank... Continue reading

My father suffered a series of brain seizures due to sleep apnea at the end of August '09 and I, his only child, was responsible for taking care of him (my mother passed away from breast cancer in 1995). So... Continue reading

In the past year (at least) I've made several attempts to write a long piece about Charles North's excellent 2007 book Cadenza. Each time, I've faltered. I think my best course of action is to apply for a grant and,... Continue reading

An open letter to the Nobel Committee No American-born poet has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his/her country. Eliot was a British citizen and, despite the fact that he could never hide his St. Louis roots, we... Continue reading

I was born in Concord, Massachusetts. Raised in Connecticut. Brookfield for the first eight years, four years in Marietta, Georgia (home of the Big Chicken and the Georgia Satellites), then back to Southbury, my hometown if I have one. The... Continue reading

I was born in Concord, Massachusetts. Raised in Connecticut. Brookfield for the first eight years, four years in Marietta, Georgia (home of the Big Chicken and the Georgia Satellites), then back to Southbury, my hometown if I have one. The... Continue reading