Photos from Newburyport Literary Festival
The Newburyport Literary Festival, April 27-28
The Newburyport Literary Festival is happening this weekend. Here is the complete schedule. It’s going to be a beautiful day!
Thomas Merton & Bob Dylan
Robert Hudson has written “a parallel biography” of what some might consider an unlikely pair, Thomas Merton and Bob Dylan. Both of these poets, however, figured largely as influences on my own development as a poet and Catholic thinker. Read a review of the book in Commonweal.
Boston National Poetry Month Festival
Come to the Boston Public Library on Friday, April 6, to hear Rhina Espaillat, John Tavano and myself perform a new program of melopoeia titled “Passages.” Our performance, scheduled to begin at 1:15 PM, is part of this year’s Keynote Poets readings.
Deborah Warren on Youtube
To help promote the upcoming Newburyport Literary Festival, Deborah Warren talks about the books she loves best with filmmaker Betsy Westendorf.
Jiggery-Pokery Semicentennial
The double dactyl is aptly described on the jacket of this new anthology as “a devilish amalgam of rhyme, meter, name-dropping and pure nonsense,” but editors Daniel Groves and Greg Williamson have somehow persuaded the likes of X. J. Kennedy, J. D. McClatchy, Kim Bridgford, Caki Wilkinson, Andrew Hudgins and Charles Martin to contribute their efforts to this new anthology, conceived as a follow-up to the original Jiggery-Pokery anthology compiled by the inventors of the form, Anthony Hecht and John Hollander. Also included are three of my own poems, along with several by my good friend A. M. Juster.
An Improbable Source of Truth
Stop the presses! Donald Trump actually spoke the truth, for once. Here is a link to Andrew J. Bacevich’s editorial in The Boston Globe. It’s a must-read, as is everything Bacevich writes.
In Silence, by Paulette Turco
Paulette Turco’s first published collection of poems, In Silence, is available from Finishing Line Press. Place your order now! It’s like getting Andrew Benintendi’s rookie card. Paulette is destined for stardom.
Quiet Drama
I would consider this 3-minute video a found poem. View it the way you would read a poem, allowing time to slow down while you give it your full attention. You’ll find it delightfully amusing. Although there is very little artifice involved, it’s a masterpiece of composition. Be sure to watch it all the way through: it’s got a beginning, a middle, and an end. And the acting is terrific!
Finding a Reader
It’s nice for a writer to imagine someone may read the stuff he puts out there; nicer still to discover that someone has actually read it. Mike Juster brought my attention to these remarks on Patrick Kurp’s blog, “Anecdotal Evidence.”