Metaphysician of Doubt

Not surprisingly, Charles Simic's first reading since being names U.S. poet laureate was a little crowded. Jessica Allen gives us a front row look at the laughs and strangeness.

Editors Out. Networking In.

For their inaugural go at publishing poetry, McSweeney's eschewed the traditional anthology structure in favor of a daisy-chain of poets, each poet selecting the next. Jessica Winter traces the social and aesthetic networks among poets and poems exhibited in the new anthology, McSweeney's Poets Picking Poets.

“Is it Lesbian enough?”

At last month’s Lambda Literary Awards, a prize ceremony for LGBT-themed books, the announcer of the prizes for erotica got overzealous about his duties. Rachel Aviv fills us in on the details.

The Movie Star vs. the Poem

On April 11, the stage at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall was packed with celebrities. Ethan Hawke, Glenn Close, Lauren Bacall, and others were all on hand to help the Academy of American Poets raise some well-deserved dough. James Marcus reports.

The Ten Jens Reading

Hot on the Heels of his Five Aarons reading, organizer Aaron Belz thought it would be fun to get ten "Jens" together in St. Louis for a reading. He gives us an insider's look.

If You Live in a Stolen Country, Expect Trouble

Debuting in Omaha, a new opera by composer Anthony Davis with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa isn't exactly a light fare, dealing with the poverty and displacement felt by American Indians of the 19th century. Timothy Schaffert takes in Wakonda’s Dream.

Some Poets, Their Plays, and a Moment of Real Bad Taste

Aidin Vaziri learns some lessons as he attends Small Press Traffic’s Poets Theater Jamboree. Among them, that you can't escape the war in Iraq and that sometimes it's best if poets just stick to poetry.

Clever Upstart Declares: You're All Doomed

At a reading at Open Books in Seattle, Travis Nichols listens as Ben Lerner either shows why he was nominated for a National Book Award, or why he lost.

Ice Storm Freezes Creeley Conference

Who ever thought having a conference could be so tough? Michael Kelleher looks back at how even a blizzard, government decrees, falling trees, and an absentee audience couldn't put the brakes on a conference set up to celebrate the work of Robert Creeley.

Poetry, Wartime, and Unwieldy Metaphors

Do you have to have lived through war in order to write poems about it? At a panel discussion in Chicago—featuring Brian Turner, Dunya Mikhail, Jorie Graham, Gary Snyder, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Philip Metres—Cliff Doerksen finds out.

98 poets, 118 years

With recordings going back to 1888, the boxed set Poetry on Record seems like it should amaze even the most jaded poetry fans. Will it? From Whitman and Browning to Levertov and Plath, Nick Marino lets us know what to expect.

Rejection Slip? What Rejection Slip?

At a place which bills itself as one of the oldest continually running coffee shops in the U.S., Lyn Lifshin, once dubbed the “Queen of the Small Presses,” reads and chats about rejection and acceptance. Daniel Nester reports on a reading by one of the most prolific poets ever.

Women, Gibberish, and Prom Dresses

At Manhattan's Cornelia Street Cafe, a group of women staged a series of readings of female poets including Mina Loy, Barbara Guest and Muriel Rukeyser. Our man James Marcus was there for Gertrude Stein night.

Self-Hatred Can Be Funny

At Centrum Writer's Conference in Port Townsend, Washington, the surroundings are so lush our writer finds herself in a "Lewis and Clark stupor." And that's before Lynn Emanuel starts to read. By Frances McCue.

In the Realm of Cool Eyeglasses

In a tiny art-deco theater inside of a restaurant in Seattle, John Yau and Doug Nufer read to the creme de la creme of Seattle's literary Scene. Anna Maria Hong reports back on the reading, the wine, and the clever-punning audience.

Milosz Is Watching You

At Copernicus’s alma mater in Krakow, U.S. and Polish poets get together to talk poetry and politics under Czeslaw Milosz’s watchful eye. Bradford Gray Telford reports on the new questions facing poets on both continents.

July 16, 2008 : Provincetown, MA
Carl Phillips. Fine Arts Work Center
Phillips (Quiver of Arrows), who is also offering a workshop on revision at the work center this week, gives a public reading. A slide talk by painter and printmaker Andrew Mockler follows.

July 17, 2008 : Chicago, IL
Ed Roberson, Dan Beachy-Quick, Eleni Sikelianos, and others. Experimental Station
Roberson (City Eclogue), Beachy-Quick (A Whaler’s Dictionary), and Sikelianos (Body Clock) read their contributions to Chicago Review’s new Barbara Guest issue. Local writers give a staged reading of Guest’s play The Office, published for the first time in the issue.

July 17, 2008 : Seattle, WA
Mary Cornish, Timothy Kelly, and J.W. Marshall. Cabaret Series
In this event cosponsored by Oberlin College Press, three FIELD poetry prize winners from the Pacific Northwest —Cornish (Red Studio), Kelly (The Extremities), and Marshall (Meaning a Cloud)—read from new books at the Richard Hugo House.

July 18, 2008 : San Francisco, CA
Lucille Clifton, Robert Hass, Sharon Olds, C.D. Wright, and Dean Young. Squaw Valley Benefit Reading
Clifton, Hass, Olds, Wright, and Young read at First Unitarian Universalist Center to benefit the Squaw Valley Community of Writers’ Poetry Scholarship Fund, which helps talented writers afford a week-long workshop. Poets and publishers donate and sign books; the event is usually standing-room-only.

July 19, 2008 : Cambridge, MA
Kate Colby, Matvei Yankelevich, and Jeffrey Yang. Boston Poetry Collective
Colby, whose new book Unbecoming Behavior is just out from Ugly Duckling Presse, reads with Ugly Duckling editor Yankelevich (The Present Work) and new Directions poetry editor Yang (An Aquarium) at Pierre Menard Gallery.

July 19, 2008 : San Francisco, CA
Maxine Chernoff, Gillian Conoley, Bin Ramke, and others. Bay Area Poetry Marathon
Literary magazine editors Chernoff, Conoley, and Ramke (of New American Writing, VOLT, and Denver Quarterly, respectively), read with D.A. Powell, Chad Sweeney, David Blair, and others for one in a series of summer marathon readings at the LAB gallery in the Mission District.

July 20, 2008 : Oakland, CA
Anna Moschovakis and Dennis Somera. The (New) Reading Series
Poet and translator Moschovakis (I Have Not Been Able To Get Through To Everyone), who edits, designs, and prints books for Ugly Duckling Presse, reads with recent Mills College MFA graduate Somera at 21 Grand.

July 22, 2008 : Chicago, IL
Carrie Etter and Andy Gricevich. Series A
American expat poet Etter (The Tethers), who now teaches at Bath Spa University, returns to her home state to read new work with musician, poet, and CANNOT EXIST editor Gricevich.

July 23, 2008 : Orange, CA
Jeffrey McDaniel and Jack McCarthy. Two Idiots Peddling Poetry
Former slam poets McDaniel (The Endarkenment) and McCarthy (who had a memorable cameo in the film Slam Nation) read at the Ugly Mug Caffe for this series hosted by “idiots” Steve Ramirez and Ben Trigg.

July 24-26, 2008 : San Francisco, CA
Jack Hirschman, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Alejandro Murguia, and others. Flor y Canto en el Barrio: A Celebration of Latino Poetry
Murguia (Southern Front) curates this festival that brings young poets in contact with authors such as Cervantes (Drive: The First Quartet) and San Francisco poet laureate Hirschman for readings, workshops, and cultural exchanges.

July 25, 2008 : New Smyrna Beach, FL
Thomas Sayers Ellis and Terese Svoboda. Atlantic Center for the Arts
Dark Room Collective cofounder Ellis (Maverick Room) reads with fellow Graywolf author Svoboda (Black Glasses Like Clark Kent) at the arts center where both are teaching workshops for teenagers.

July 26, 2008 : Cambridge, MA
Liz Bradfield, Kevin Gallagher, and Jon Thompson. The So & So Series
Broadsided Press editor Bradfield (Interpretive Work), political economist Gallagher, and Parlor Press poetry editor Thompson (The Book of the Floating World) read for this series for “early career poets” hosted by Chris Tonelli.

July 27-August 2, 2008 : Franconia, NH
James Hoch, Susan Howe, Jean Valentine, and others. Frost Place Festival and Conference
2008 Frost Place poet-in-residence Hoch (Miscreants) reads with guest poets Howe (Souls of the Labadie Tract) and Valentine (Little Boat) as well as festival fellows Linda Susan Jackson (What Yellow Sound Like) and Ilya Kaminsky (Dancing in Odessa) for the 30th anniversary of this festival, which offers daily craft talks, workshops, and readings.

July 28, 2008 : Provincetown, MA
Cleopatra Mathis. Fine Arts Work Center
After a weeklong workshop on how to save “unruly” poems, Mathis reads from her latest collection, White Sea. A slide talk by printmaker Vicky Tomayko follows.

July 30, 2008 : New York, NY
Shanna Compton. Chrystie Street Series
Bloof Books editor Compton (For Girls (& Others)) reads for this brand new series hosted by Steve Roberts at Home Sweet Home Bar.

July 30, 2008 : San Clemente, CA
Angie Estes and Kathy Fagan. Casa Romantica Reading Series
Ohio State University professors and poets Estes (Chez Nous) and Fagan (The Charm) read at the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens.

August 3, 2008 : Berkeley, CA
Chad Sweeney, Jennifer K. Sweeney, and Richard Silberg. Poetry Flash Reading Series
Poetry Flash editor Silberg (Deconstruction of the Blues) and others gather at Moe’s Books on Telegraph Avenue to send off Chad (Arranging the Blaze) and Jennifer K. Sweeney (Salt Memory), who are moving from the Bay Area to the Midwest.

August 4, 2008 : Provincetown, MA
Marie Howe. Fine Arts Work Center
Howe (The Kingdom of Ordinary Time), a 1983 Fine Arts Work Center fellow, leads a workshop for experienced poets and gives a public reading. A slide talk by muralist Roberto Juarez follows.

August 5, 2008 : New York, NY
Oni Buchanan, Darcie Dennigan, and Abraham Smith. Poetry from the Rooftops
Buchanan (Spring) reads from her second collection and
Dennigan (Corinna A-Maying the Apocalypse) and Smith (Whim Man Mammon) read from their first collections at The Arsenal, NYC’s Parks and Recreation Department headquarters, for Poetry from the Rooftops, the new Academy of American Poets summer series.

August 6, 2008 : Seattle, WA
George Bowering and Marion Kimes. Subtext Reading Series
Vancouver poet Bowering (Kerrisdale Elegies), Canada’s first-ever poet laureate and a baseball fanatic, comes down to the Good Shepherd Center to read with Kimes (Crows’ Eyes), a longtime used bookseller at Seattle’s Horizon Books.

August 6, 2008 : Provincetown, MA
Ralph Angel and Victoria Redel. Fine Arts Work Center
Poet and translator Angel (Exceptions and Melancholies) reads with poet and novelist Redel (Swoon), whose novel, Loverboy, was adapted into a film directed by Kevin Bacon. Printmaker Peik Larsen gives a slide talk.

August 8, 2008 : Provincetown, MA
Mary Oliver. Fine Arts Work Center
Provincetown resident and best selling poet
Oliver (Red Bird) gives a reading in memory of
Grace Paley, which will benefit a fellowship fund endowed by Paley for writers at the arts center.

August 9, 2008 : Seattle, WA
John Burgess and Raul Sanchez. Ugly Mug Café
Snow Monkey editor Burgess (A History of Guns in the Family) reads with Sanchez, whose Seattle street poems use Spanglish and Caló, at this coffee house that also hosts weekly jazz.

August 10, 2008 : Cambridge, MA
David Barber, Major Jackson, and John Skoyles. New England Poetry Club
Three poetry editors read from new books at the Longfellow National Historic Site: Barber (Wonder Cabinet) of The Atlantic Monthly, Jackson (Hoops) of The Harvard Review, and Skoyles (The Situation) of Ploughshares.

August 10, 2008 : Los Angeles, CA
Kristi Maxwell, Jillian Weise, Michele Matheson, and Alistair McCartney. Rhapsodomancy Reading Series
Poets Maxwell (Realm Sixty-Four) and Weise (The Amputee's Guide to Sex) travel from Cincinnati and Clemson, respectively, to read with Los Angeles novelists Matheson (Saving Angelfish) and McCartney (The End of the World Book) at the Good Luck Bar in Silver Lake.