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Governmental Gutlessness
Here is the latest news in the increasingly absurd failure of “the world’s largest democracy” to protect Taslima Nasrin’s freedom not only to speak and write, but to walk in the open air without fear for her life. Now she is being refused the opportunity to receive a prestigious international award in her own country.Read More
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Forgetting Nemerov
Reginald Shepherd, in his latest blog post on Harriet, remarks (correctly, sad to say) that Howard Nemerov “is almost forgotten today.” Not by everyone, though. I remember hearing him read on the University of Denver campus in the early 1980s, I believe—an occasion that made me realize that a poet’s writing voice and physical voice could be essentially the same. I mean that poems which had seemed to be “verse” on the page emerged from Nemerov’s living mouth as “speech,” an almost-everyday kind of talk.Read More
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Murder on the Poetry Express
The following mélange of doggerel and political vapidity has been offered up by Maya Angelou — not in America, but in (and for) a British newspaper, The Observer. Perhaps this is due to the affection the current British Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, seems to harbor for disposable “poetry.” “With this kind of poem Angelou has decided to interpret public writing as a verbal equivalent of making a poster,” Mr.Read More
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A Polish Master’s Poems
On January 12 the National Book Critics Circle announced, among 5 poetry nominees for the 2007 awards, a volume of newly translated poems by Tadeusz Różewicz, entitled simply New Poems. It’s a terrific book that brings Różewicz’s three latest volumes under one cover. The poems, as far as I can tell (having no Polish), are beautifully translated by Bill Johnston; at least they make beautiful poems in English! Here’s an example—one that makes so many kindly gestures and moves at such a relaxed pace that I was utterly surprised to find myself choked up at the end.Read More
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Super Ekphrasticalistic!
Engaged as I am at the moment in writing a poem based on a painting, I found this essay by Alfred Corn on ekphrasis especially interesting. The challenge, it seems to me, is how to describe while moving beyond description to convey the emotional/intellectual content encoded in the forms.Read More
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On The Incorrection
A couple of weeks ago I received my copy of Canadian poet George McWhirter’s new collection of poems, The Incorrection, and I’ve savored my way through it, first at one serial go, then dipping in and out like a sandpiper nibbling amidst sliding sea foam at the beach.* There is no way to summarize, coherently characterize, or anatomize this collection. First, it is large: 186 pages, or roughly three of what we’ve come to accept as average-in-length poetry books.Read More
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Congratulations to Taslima Nasreen
I just stumbled across this draft of a post that I failed to actually post back in January…. “Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has been chosen for the prestigious Simone de Beauvoir feminist award in recognition of her writing on rights for women,” reports Sify News.Read More
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Congratulations to Taslima Nasrin
“Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has been chosen for the prestigious Simone de Beauvoir feminist award in recognition of her writing on rights for women,” reports Sify News.Read More
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Taste vs. Art
Try out this thoughtful post by Major Jackson on this pithy comment by Frank Bidart: “The history of taste is not the history of art.” Jackson unpacks this idea beautifully.Read More
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Adios, Ángel González
The fine anti-Franco poet’s obituary appeared in The Miami Herald. Here’s my (inadequate) translation of his poem “Hope…”: Hope,black twilight spider.You haltnot far from my forsakenbody, you scuttlearound me,rapidly weavingtenuous invisible threads,you draw near, relentless,and almost caress me with your shadowheavyand light at once. Clenchedunder rocks and hours,patient, you awaited the comingof this eveningwhere nothing nowis possible… My heart:your nest. Bite into it, hope.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
