[ Sunday, January 1, 2012; 3:00 pm; ] There are three things to consider when the New Year’s Day Poetry Marathon sweeps you into its gracefully uncouth embrace — what it is, what it was, and who you will be when it’s over. An untamed gathering of the heart’s secret, wild nobility — over 140 poets together revealing not just that a better [...]
[This is Marcella's final blog post. Thanks M! Our Guest Blogger feature will go on hiatus for December and return in the New Year.]
Creative readings
I’ve been reading Susan Howe’s My Emily Dickinson and in it came to a moment where art, poetry and concrete world came together. And that is where Howe relates Plutarch’s translation [...]
Covers
I was never particularly in love with the Beach Boys. However, I’ve been listening a lot to a musician very strongly influenced by them. This musician, “named” Panda Bear, reworks familiar BB sound—Brian Wilsonesque vocals are distorted and extended into 12-minute songs that change tunes midway. I love covers, reworkings, renditions like this. I like [...]
Geography and Genealogy
“You speak of Mr. Whitman—I never read his book—but was told that he was disgraceful—“
–Emily Dickinson, to T.W. Higginson, 25 April 1862
So where do you fall? Walt or Emily?
I have loved Walt, but Emily not so much. The latter has been my secret shame for years. My most respected friend-poets have professed deep, [...]
My Occupations
I rarely meet someone without wanting to fight them. Others prefer the interior monologue. Not me. I like fighting better.
–Henri Michaux
A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Annual Gowanus Artists Studios Tour, where I saw the artist Ernest Concepcion. We were followed into his studio by a curious bystander who asked what [...]
