That sovereign of insufferables, Oscar Wilde has ensued with his opulence of twaddle and his penury of sense. He has mounted his hind legs and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck, to the capital edification of circumjacent fools and foolesses, fooling with their foolers.… continue reading...
We have all heard the story of an aged Pablo Neruda at a poetry reading, turning down a request to perform a poem from the earlier days of his career, citing a failing memory. … continue reading...
(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!”… continue reading...
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.… continue reading...
The CPR editors recently received the following note from the Italian scholar Massimo Bacigalupo:
… continue reading...Dear Scholars of Ezra Pound and Modernism:
I thought you’d like to know that the house where Olga Rudge and Ezra Pound
lived in Sant’Ambrogio di Zoagli, above Rapallo, is for sale.
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. … continue reading...
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.… continue reading...
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.… continue reading...
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.… continue reading...
Five Lessons from AWP: Or, Why We Hate Poetry Readings
1) You should recite your poetry, not read it.
2) If you can’t recite your poetry, then you can’t remember your poetry.… continue reading...
The 2nd Annual Symposium on Poetry Criticism on July 28-30, 2011
To be held at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado
Founded by Jan Schreiber and David J.… continue reading...
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.… continue reading...
One of several enticements of the internet for a literary magazine, as for any enterprise, is the ease with which information may be conveyed, stored, and distributed.… continue reading...
Book of the Year: Collected Poems by W. H. Auden, edited by Edward Mendelson (Modern Library).
This one is unavoidable. You can’t get around it. You have to go through it.… continue reading...
Book of the Year: Not for Specialists: New & Selected Poems by W. D. Snodgrass (BOA Editions).
What happened to Snodgrass? After winning the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for his first book, the “confessional school” landmark Heart’s Needle, his career stalled.… continue reading...
Book of the Year: The Collected Poems (1943-2004) of Richard Wilbur (Harcourt)
Runners-Up: Safest by Michael Donaghy (Picador)
Who is the greatest living American poet?… continue reading...
Book of the Year: The Collected Poems of Donald Justice (Knopf)
Runner-Up: Second Space by Czeslaw Milosz (Ecco). Inner Voices: Selected Poems by Richard Howard (FSG).… continue reading...
Book of the Year: The Collected Poems of Robert Lowell, edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter (FSG)
Runners-Up: The Collected Poems of Ted Hughes, edited by Paul Keegan (FSG); “I Am”: The Selected Poetry of John Clare, edited by Jonathan Bate (FSG)
The story of the year was summed up in two words: Robert Lowell.… continue reading...
