Friday, October 21, 2005
Bits and pieces
- I finished American Gods. Very good, I thought. Well worth the read if you enjoy dark contemporary fantasy. Probably worth it even if you're not sure you do.
- Several poems from The Eleventh Muse 2005 made Jordan Davis's list of notable poems (they're at 1210-1215). I'm happy about it, and I must admit I was hoping a few would show up after I sent him that issue a while back. Thanks, Jordan, and congratulations to the poets who made the list, including blogger Justin Evans, sometime reader of this blog Clay Stockton, and my Colorado Springs friends Jane Wampler and Jenn Koiter.
- In my last list of "things I'm going to write about soon," I mentioned something about timelessness in poetry. Well, I don't really have much to say on it right now, it turns out. Just that writing poetry that conspicuously avoids contemporary or potentially ephemeral diction (as someone on a critique forum recently suggested I do) is a good way to write antiquated garbage.
- What the hell has happened to Salon? I recently chose to end my subscription to the premium version after two years, and I'm gladder and gladder I did. The political "War Room" is good and King Kaufman's sports column is the best one out there, especially as a smart alternative to the latest tortured analogy between a sports figure and an 80s movie as cranked out by Bill Simmons. However, the site's "Day Pass" commercials don't work on either of my browsers about half the time, the critics are relentless users of the royal "we," and most of the lifestyle and arts articles are shrill and narcissistic: they actually gave their lead story one day last week to an unbelievably wretched piece by Steve Almond that went on and on, insulting a blogger who dislikes him, trying to make hay of the fact that they were at the same event and didn't have a confrontation of any sort, and speculating that the blogger (also a man) wants to have sex with Almond. Spectacularly awful stuff.
- Congratulations, Jeffery, on having your book among 10 finalists for the Dickinson Award.
Comments:
<< Home
Just that writing poetry that conspicuously avoids contemporary or potentially ephemeral diction (as someone on a critique forum recently suggested I do) is a good way to write antiquated garbage.
--high five brother!
Ah, yes--the everlasting gobstopper of poetry.
Post a Comment
--high five brother!
Ah, yes--the everlasting gobstopper of poetry.
<< Home
