(Here’s a salute to Creative Writing programs from our poets and critics, past and present, culled from various interviews and essays.)“Abolish the M.F.A.! What a ringing slogan for a new Cato: Iowa delenda est!” – Donald Hall“We are now at the point where writing programs are poisoning, and in turn we are being poisoned by, departments and institutions on which we have fastened them…” – R. V. Cassill (the founder of AWP, in his address to the convention at its 15th anniversary)“The Creative Writing experiment is now a generation old. It has been thoroughly tested and explored in every conceivable way and has proved, in my opinion, a colossal failure. Commons sense dictates that it should be abandoned.” –Karl Shapiro“…the academically certified Creative Writer goes out [...]

I have attended dozens of poetry readings. Virtually all of them were identical:• The introductions made me think I was about to witness the second coming of John Donne.• All of the “poems” were preceded by tedious, unhelpful explanations. Typically, these involved the author’s state of intoxication when they wrote this stuff or the unknown friend or relative who served as the inspiration or subject. Like we care.• As I recall, there was only one elegy, that being for a poet.• Indeed, the only people mentioned, living or dead, were either poets (often portrayed reverently) or leaders (almost invariably shown in a negative, political light).• What little humor was in evidence usually amounted to that desiccated, self-conscious, congratulatory intertext. “Oh, did you see how I [...]

The CPR editors recently received the following note from the Italian scholar Massimo Bacigalupo:Dear Scholars of Ezra Pound and Modernism:I thought you’d like to know that the house where Olga Rudge and Ezra Poundlived in Sant’Ambrogio di Zoagli, above Rapallo, is for sale. Only half of it,to be precise.If any of you is interested I can put you in touch with the current owner, whohosted us very courteously during our Rapallo Conferences.You should be warned, however, that real estate on the Riviera is expensive.Rest assured, we are phoning the ghost of New Directions founder James Laughlin right now for a mortgage loan.Seriously, it’ s not too late for someone to preserve ”the Ezuversity.” This should be one of American literature’s great shrines.Please contact us if you would like more [...]

The Unspoken Rules of Book Reviewing: A Guide for Beginners Rule 1: Only review a book if you can be impartial about it—that is, only review a book toward which you feel nothing.  Be descriptive; avoid value judgments.Rule 2: If you do have an opinion, don’t express it unless it’s positive.  Make sure to balance any negative observations (or even less-than-positive ones) with an equal number of positive observations.Rule 3: If you do have a negative opinion of a book, make sure you express it only if the author is in no position to harm you in any way (that is, someone with no power in the poetry world).Rule 4: Do not review anyone you know.Now let’s talk about those rules. Rule 1: This is [...]

Recently, Andrew Feld posted the following comment on Joan Houlihan’s review of Christian Wiman’s latest book of poems:Without addressing the substance of this review, it does seem problematic to me that it is written by a poet whose most recent book was given a hugely unfavorable review in the journal edited by Christian Wiman. Whatever you might want to say about her claims and criticisms, Jean Houlihan can hardly be regarded as impartial on this subject. The supposed objectivity of her critique is completely negated by her personal investment in rejecting Wiman’s poetry and poetic standards. Would she have written the same review if her book had been praised in Wiman’s journal? Probably not. The mystery is not why this review was written, but why [...]

In a review copy of Norman Stock’s new collection, Pickled Dreams Naked (NYQ Books), we came across the first honest poem we’ve ever read about poetry readings. Poetasters, prepare yourselves.At a Boring Poetry ReadingThey read the audience to death.These poets use live ammunition, their words, to weaken us.Are they trying to put us to sleep or are they trying to keep themselves upby droning on and on? Instead of listening, all I’m doing is waiting for them to stop.The applause will be like glass breaking, the glass they are enclosing us in.It is as if they tied their shoes in front of us just to show us they could tie their shoes in front of us!O save me from this scatterbrain orderliness, this posture of beheading.Will this [...]

The editors of the CPR wish to thank our readers for their comments, and letters, on the subject of “poetry readings.” Our very short and sarcastic list created a tiff among a number of “the touchy tribe” who seemed to take offense at the notion that all contemporary poetry readings are not wonderfully entertaining events.Some poetasters seemed wounded by the thought that if you can’t recite your verse it’s probably because you can’t remember your verse.  An even more outrageous suggestion seemed to be that if you can’t remember your verse, it’s very likely that your audience won’t remember your verse either.The editors of the CPR considered these remarks to be near-syllogisms, admirably clear and obvious, but then we know that poets are rarely swayed [...]

Five Lessons from AWP: Or, Why We Hate Poetry Readings1)      You should recite your poetry, not read it.2)      If you can’t recite your poetry, then you can’t remember your poetry. And if you can’t remember your poetry, why would anyone else?3)      A poetry recital should be a performance.  Most poets read their poems in front of an audience as if they were lecturing to a group of college students. This betrays two illusions. The first is that the poetry audience is the same as a classroom of captives. The second is that the audience must indulge the poet, rather than the poet showing sufficient respect for the audience to entertain it.4)      A poem should be recited to an audience before it is ever published. This [...]

The 2nd Annual Symposium on Poetry Criticism on July 28-30, 2011To be held at Western State College in Gunnison, ColoradoFounded by Jan Schreiber and David J. RothmanParticipants include the CPR’s Ernest Hilbert, Joan Houlihan, David J. Rothman, Jan Schreiber, and James Matthew Wilson. Marilyn Krysl, Marilyn Taylor, and David Yezzi will also be presenting at the symposium.Main page: http://formalversemfa.org/The schedule of events: http://www.western.edu/writingtherockies/scheduleTo register: http://www.western.edu/writingtherockies/registrationThe annual Symposium on Poetry Criticism was co-founded by David Rothman and Jan Schreiber in 2010 to address a growing sense that critical writing — reviews as well as more global discussions of the state of contemporary literature — has lost its way. Aware that many writers and critics wished to shine a light on an activity most essential to a [...]

The fashion world is enjoying the anonymous posts coming from Fuck Yeak Menswear, where each daily post “responds” to a fashion photograph with hilarious, egotistical doggerel that reminds this reader of nothing so much as a clothes-obsessed rap star working on the lyrics to B-sides that will never see the light of day.The blog works as both a pitch-perfect parody of the high fashion crowd, and as a larger-than-life comic sketch of the Kanye West metrosexual/gangsta mentality.Here’s a sample:Welcome to F/W 10.Did you just get chills?Frostbit fingertips trembling on your trackpad?My bad.Me and Jacky Frost been lamping on the street.Crystallizing windows.Talkin’ winter essentials.My favorite coat back in the day was a J Press Presidential.Talkin’ cold weather tactics.Best protect ya neck.I only fuck with exclusive shit. [...]