Stephen Burt's Blog, page 12

I had no idea

My poem in the current Colorado Review was recently Verse Daily’s Poem of the Day.

Currently enjoying new, or new-to-me, books (not already mentioned in this space) by Patty Seyburn, Angie Estes, Patrick Pritchett, Jane Draycott, and, from South Africa via (I think) London or Manchester, Karen Kilalea.

Estes, Seyburn, Robyn Schiff (whom I wrote about recently already), and a few other poets are starting to seem to me like some sort of happy coincidence, or proto-movement– neo-glamor? the fabric b

the north wind steals my hat

I have returned from Britain. I like travel, but I like coming home. I really can’t overstate the hospitality shown by pretty much everyone who handled my event-packed visit there, most of all Michael Schmidt of Carcanet Press and PN Review. (If you’re not a subscriber to PN Review, do consider it.)

I have also reread The Sea and the Mirror (though not in the Arthur Kirsch edition, alas) a couple of times by way of preparing to teach it.

Were those birds I saw in Kelvingrove Park actually magpie

time out!

I’m in Liverpool with the Irish poet and critic John Redmond. Check out his mysterious, rewarding new book of poems, which has both a Minnesotan (he used to live there, and to teach at Macalester) and a science-fictional/ computer game component.

My talk at Glasgow went quite well– thanks to the uni, and to Michael Schmidt, and to John Coyle and the School of Scottish and English Language and Literature (which goes by the alarming acronym SESSL, pronounced “sessile”). The relatively posh parts of

british schedule taking shape; cleveland state’s list is, too

If you live in southern Scotland or northern England, or you can teleport, you might want to consider coming to these events at the end of the month:

On March 24, at 5:30pm, I’m in Glasgow, talking about the differences between American and British poetry, and about what British poets can do that Americans ought to notice (but don’t).

On March 26 at 6pm I’m talking at Rylands Library, Manchester about sonnets, with a Q&A to follow.

And towards the end of the week I’ll be talking about contemporary

post-elegiac; anti-plagiarist

Just heard the Woodberry Poetry Room’s somber, and yet celebratory, reading by three poets known for their recent elegies, their poetry of mourning: Mary Jo Bang, Catherine Barnett and Noelle Kocot. Kocot’s new book, more enthusiasm than elegy, just came in the mail: I’m not sure what I think, except that she has energy, admirable, strange energy.

Also new, also something I’ve been happy about as I’ve begun to read; Jessica Bozek was one of the seven students in the first poetry-writing, and the

in part about love

I recommend visiting San Antonio if you have the chance; I also recommend asking someone at Trinity University what they’ve done right to get students so interested in contemporary poetry: my talk-and-reading was packed. Thanks again to the San Antonio Express-News, and to Jenny Browne, whose own Q&A with the Express-News you can read here.

I appear to have poems in the current issue of ILQ, a web-based journal with a truly intercontinental scope: the editor works in Argentina, and the contributo