Rattle Conversations Review: A look at Alan Fox's interviews with 14 contemporary poets

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Rattle Conversations Review: A look at Alan Fox's interviews with 14 contemporary poets
September 18, 2008

Hello Poets and Poetry Lovers

This week's new book review is Alan Fox's Rattle Conversations. And I'm continuing the update of World Class Poetry. Nearly done. Thank you for being patient, and soon, very soon, I'll have a futuristic treat for you. A real sweet one. So keep reading.

Oh, and be sure to read about my rejection - you'll have to click a blog post link toward the end of the newsletter (wink).

Poetry Video Of The Week - Two From The Poetry Foundation
New And Updated World Class Poetry Pages
American Life in Poetry by Ted Kooser
New World Class Poetry Blog Posts
LitMixx Pix
Poetry Book Of The Week
Duotrope's Daily Digest
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World Class Poetry Networking

Poetry Video Of The Week - Two From Poetry Foundation

This week I've decided to share two poetry videos. One from John Ashbery and one from Len Hejinian. Both are presented by The Poetry Foundation. I think you'll like them.

First, Ashbery, "Paradoxes and Oxymorons":

If you can't view the video then click here.

Len Hejinian's "Eleven Eyes (Verse 11)":

Can't view this video? Click here.

New Updated World Class Poetry Pages

Well, I'm moving along with the website update and I'm almost done. That's why this week most of my updated pages are what some people would call useless. They're not, but they could be construed that way. They are valuable content pages - at least my newsletter subscription page and the toolbar download page are valuable pages. But who's counting?

I'm much more excited about the new page, and I think you will be too. This week's new addition to World Class Poetry is a book review of Rattle Conversations by Alan Fox. I hope you enjoy it!

This week's updated pages include:

That leaves me just a handful of pages left to update to the new design. After that I'll be able to spend more time creating new pages. Thank you for being patient!

American Life in Poetry: Column 181

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Stuart Kestenbaum, the author of this week's poem, lost his brother Howard in the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. We thought it appropriate to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001, by sharing this poem. The poet is the director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine.

Prayer for the Dead

The light snow started late last night and continued
all night long while I slept and could hear it occasionally
enter my sleep, where I dreamed my brother
was alive again and possessing the beauty of youth, aware
that he would be leaving again shortly and that is the lesson
of the snow falling and of the seeds of death that are in everything
that is born: we are here for a moment
of a story that is longer than all of us and few of us
remember, the wind is blowing out of someplace
we don't know, and each moment contains rhythms
within rhythms, and if you discover some old piece
of your own writing, or an old photograph,
you may not remember that it was you and even if it was once you,
it's not you now, not this moment that the synapses fire
and your hands move to cover your face in a gesture
of grief and remembrance.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2007 by Stuart Kestenbaum. Reprinted from "Prayers & Run-on Sentences," Deerbook Editions, 2007, by permission of Stuart Kestenbaum. Introduction copyright (c) 2008 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

New World Class Poetry Blog Posts

Do you like rejection? I do. Check out these blog posts this week and find out why:

And just in case you missed the series on the history and the future of the epic, go back and catch it. It's a great read (if I do say so myself).

LitMixx Pix

Literary stories of the week:

Poetry Book Of The Week

Rattle Conversations by Alan Fox is this week's poetry book of the week. While not a book of poems, I believe this book is important because Fox interviews some very influential poets of our age. He sits in a comfortable setting and just enjoys their company while allowing them to tell their story. Rattle Conversations is a book worth reading at least twice.