Originally posted by Rachel   While I continue to have the craziest, busiest, most poetry-less life ever, let me attempt to use a classic distraction technique. This is my favorite new blog, over at Powell’s. It’s like the Daily Show for book news. It’s the most fun you’ll ever have while larnin’ stuff.

<p>So, the last two important bog poems: </p> <p><strong>The Grauballe Man</strong></p> <p>As if he had been poured<br />in tar, he lies<br />on a pillow of turf<br />and seems to weep<br /><br />the black river of himself.<br />The grain of his wrists<br />is like bog oak,<br />the ball of his heel<br /><br />like a basalt egg.<br […]

I lay waitingBetween turf-face and demesne wall,Between Heathery levelsAnd glass-toothed stone. My body was BrailleFor the creeping influences:Dawn suns groped over my headAnd cooled at my feet, Through my fabrics and skinsThe seeps of winterDigested me,The illiterate roots Pondered and diedIn the cavingsOf stomach and socket.I lay waiting On the gravel bottom,My brain darkening,A jar […]

So, I think every Heaney discussion should start with this poem.  I’m probably the only one who does, but since I’m at the helm for the moment, I’ll continue on apace.  Once upon a time, I gave a paper about his bog poems at an Irish Studies conference.  I used slides of the bog bodies.  […]

It’s about time we did some more work around here.  The Potomac Celtic Festival has come and gone (sheeeew), and it’s too hot to garden, and my Mom-in-law and her beau are flying back to Utah this afternoon, despite the pleading of our pets.  So I’m stepping up to the plate to crow about Seamus […]

I alluded to this poem by Paul Durcan, and I figured it would be cruel to brag on a poet’s talent without actually sharing the goods.  Particularly when I’m mentioning an Irish poet right before the Potomac Celtic Festival, which honors Ireland this year.  Paul Durcan is one of my favorite poets from Ireland.  He’s […]

I laughed my ass off reading this. All us booksellers sure do appreciate the money we’ve made off of you Mr. Brown, but oh Lordy, how you deserve it. Almost inconceivably, even.

The Poetry Foundation has been busy. They conducted a study revealing that “the vast majority (90 percent) of American readers highly value poetry and believe it enriches the lives of those who read it.” Does that mean these people actively read poetry? Um, no. “Apart from brief, incidental encounters with poetry in public places, a […]

<p>While we’re here on our musical sojourn . . .</p> <p>As I think I’ve made clear, I’m not one for treacle.&nbsp; I think music and poetry have much larger roles to fulfill than just supplying &quot;pretty.&quot;&nbsp; Verse, whether read or sung, allows the transmission of giant, important truths of existence, whether they’re nice or not.&nbsp; […]

<p>I got a copy of <a href=”http://www.powells.com/biblio/0674018249″>this</a> the other day. I thought it might be nice to have a good collection of Emily Dickinson’s work, and you know, this was published by Harvard and all.&nbsp; It’s supposedly the authoritative one-volume edition of the extra super-duper authoritative multi-volume edition by the same scholar. Cool, right? </p> […]