Close Calls With Nonsense A poetry blog by Stephen Burt 2011-02-21T05:58:23Z hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 back to ny… /2011/02/20/back-to-ny/ 2011-02-21T05:58:23Z admin Talking poetry here this Thursday, then reading my own poems here this Friday. See you there? Talking poetry here this Thursday, then reading my own poems here this Friday. See you there?

]]> Blacksmith House, and more /2011/02/04/blacksmith-house-and-more/ 2011-02-04T20:49:49Z admin I’m reading at Blacksmith House in Cambridge with the amazing Allan Peterson this Monday Feb. 7 at 8pm. And I’m in The Nation, writing about Yeats! Also in The New Republic, writing about Carl Dennis. I like his new book. And finally, on the National Book Critics Circle blog, writing about Terrance Hayes. What a [...] I’m reading at Blacksmith House in Cambridge with the amazing Allan Peterson this Monday Feb. 7 at 8pm.

And I’m in The Nation, writing about Yeats!

Also in The New Republic, writing about Carl Dennis. I like his new book.

And finally, on the National Book Critics Circle blog, writing about Terrance Hayes. What a good book. (There I’m part of the 31 Books in 31 Days series, where we review or re-review all the awards finalists for the year.)

]]> why, I’ll be… /2011/01/18/why-ill-be/ 2011-01-19T04:27:22Z admin …introducing the finalists in criticism for the National Book Critics Circle this Saturday night in New York. I’ll also be reading from my own poems with Allan Peterson, who is terrific, at Blacksmith House in Cambridge on Monday Feb. 7. Do consider attending either event, if you’ve got no other plans. …introducing the finalists in criticism for the National Book Critics Circle this Saturday night in New York.

I’ll also be reading from my own poems with Allan Peterson, who is terrific, at Blacksmith House in Cambridge on Monday Feb. 7.

Do consider attending either event, if you’ve got no other plans.

]]> evening out /2011/01/06/evening-out/ 2011-01-06T16:50:22Z admin The first issue of the new online journal Evening Will Come appears to consist (so far) entirely of a fine lyric essay by C. D. Wright: read to the end to see what she views as the primary, or most powerful, single word. The first issue of the new online journal Evening Will Come appears to consist (so far) entirely of a fine lyric essay by C. D. Wright: read to the end to see what she views as the primary, or most powerful, single word.

]]> in hyde park (for robert von hallberg) /2010/12/28/in-hyde-park-for-robert-von-hallberg/ 2010-12-29T05:36:32Z admin Just received, and something I’m really going to be very happy to read: the new Chicago Review, whose essays’n'criticism section amounts to a festschrift for Robert von Hallberg. You can’t read the essays online– you’ll have to buy the issue, or read it in some good library– but you can read new poems by Rae [...] Just received, and something I’m really going to be very happy to read: the new Chicago Review, whose essays’n'criticism section amounts to a festschrift for Robert von Hallberg. You can’t read the essays online– you’ll have to buy the issue, or read it in some good library– but you can read new poems by Rae Armantrout, along with a swath of book reviews.

]]> on the south bank /2010/12/28/on-the-south-bank-in-hyde-park/ 2010-12-29T05:33:17Z admin Trying to track down something in a literary magazine you can’t find, and one your library doesn’t own? If the magazine is British, you’re in luck: I had to look up something in the much-lamented Thumbscrew and there’s lots of ‘screws at the Southbank Centre Poetry Library. Also Angel Exhaust for the avant-gardiste, a few [...] Trying to track down something in a literary magazine you can’t find, and one your library doesn’t own? If the magazine is British, you’re in luck: I had to look up something in the much-lamented Thumbscrew and there’s lots of ‘screws at the Southbank Centre Poetry Library. Also Angel Exhaust for the avant-gardiste, a few New Welsh Reviews, and many more. That’s what the Internet is for. (Well, that, and some other things. Pictures of cats, say.)

]]> a mike chasar christmas /2010/12/27/a-mike-chasar-christmas/ 2010-12-27T16:21:03Z admin One of my new favorite poetry bloggers, Mike Chasar at Poetry and Popular Culture, has been puncturing pretensions for a while now: in his, or their (friends do it too) latest, we see how and why the Hallmark card might surpass even (say) Susan Howe, or Pound, in requiring its projected readers to focus on [...] One of my new favorite poetry bloggers, Mike Chasar at Poetry and Popular Culture, has been puncturing pretensions for a while now: in his, or their (friends do it too) latest, we see how and why the Hallmark card might surpass even (say) Susan Howe, or Pound, in requiring its projected readers to focus on the materiality of the page on which the verse appears. (Is a sigh in order? Perhaps.)

]]> never went away /2010/12/23/never-went-away/ 2010-12-24T05:29:55Z admin Merry holidays! Here’s a useful interview with Rae Armantrout, whom another blog has now declared our poet of the year. And here I am writing about Timothy Donnelly, surely one of the best books of the year. Watch this space. Merry holidays! Here’s a useful interview with Rae Armantrout, whom another blog has now declared our poet of the year.

And here I am writing about Timothy Donnelly, surely one of the best books of the year. Watch this space.

]]> from Minneapolis /2010/11/26/from-minneapolis/ 2010-11-26T15:10:47Z admin Both the podcast and the transcript for part of our NBCC event in Minneapolis (“What can a book review do for a book?”) are now online. Both the podcast and the transcript for part of our NBCC event in Minneapolis (“What can a book review do for a book?”) are now online.

]]> owl music /2010/11/17/owl-music/ 2010-11-17T19:50:38Z admin New poem commissioned as part of a series from Jonathan Farmer of At Length magazine: I like commissions, and I like this project, which also has (among others) Juliana Spahr and the Singaporean quasi-formalist Jee Leong Koh, whose book I’ve been enjoying… here’s the whole thing. New poem commissioned as part of a series from Jonathan Farmer of At Length magazine: I like commissions, and I like this project, which also has (among others) Juliana Spahr and the Singaporean quasi-formalist Jee Leong Koh, whose book I’ve been enjoying… here’s the whole thing.

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