Today’s throwback Thursday poem was brought to my attention via a surprise Christmas gift from Clayton Eshleman: Eternity at Domme, a beautiful bi-lingual edition, published in France some years ago. I don’t know exactly when. The book has no copyright page. At the Tomb of Mallarmé Death is an erratic too source obscure…
Born December 10, 1830, Emily Dickinson did not became a literary icon until long after her death. Today, she is appreciated for her revolutionary poetic form and syntax . After the posthumous release of her journals, poems, and multitude of letters, Dickinson became one of American literature’s most prominent figures. Below is an excerpt from Wesleyan’s Dickinson anthology, A…
Today’s Throwback Thursday selection is “Desire,” from Joy Harjo’s Mad Love and War (1990). The collection won the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America in 1991, and Harjo was the 1990 recipient of the Before Columbus American Book Award. . . Desire Say I chew desire and water is an explosion…
On November 29th, 1781, somewhere between the coast of West Africa and the island of Jamaica, some 150 enslaved Africans were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean on orders of the captain of the ship Zong. The book length poem, Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip, was written entirely from the words of the legal decision regarding this massacre.…
January 11th–12th, 2016, Open University in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom will hold a conference surrounding The Hidden Musicians by Ruth Finnegan, who is a music professor at the university. More information about this event can be found at here. The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town, was originally published in 1989, but was reprinted by the Wesleyan University…
This week’s selection for Throw Back Thursday is “Bright Felon Deleted Scene 3” from Kazim Ali’s collection Sky Ward (2013). It contains its own “throwback,” a reference to Bright Felon, Ali’s 2009 book. Ali reinvents possibilities for the personal lyric and narrative in his writing. While in Bright Felon, he works through exile and criminality, Sky Ward…
Today’s Throwback Thursday selection is a James Wright poem found in a forthcoming poetry collection for children: Book of Nature Poetry. The poem was originally published in Wright’s 1963 volume, The Branch Will Not Break, which is also available as an adorable mini-book. “A Blessing” by James Wright from The Branch Will Not Break (Wesleyan UP, 1963) Also found in…
This week’s selection for Throw Back Thursday is “Autobiography” from Dennis Hinrichsen’s Collection The Attraction of Heavenly Bodies (1983). His newest collection of poetry entitled Kurosawa’s Dog (2009) was published by the Oberlin College Press and is available through University Press of New England. Autobiography The city of my birth…
Today’s Throwback Thursday images are from the book Heroes for all Time: Connecticut Civil War Soldiers Tell Their Stories. These photographs depict two rather young Union “soldiers”. The name of boy on the left has been lost to history. He was most likely a former slave who sought shelter with Union soldiers. Many such…
Today’s Throwback Thursday poem is Joe Wenderoth’s “After,” from Disfortune (1995). Wesleyan University Press also published his book It Is If I Speak (2000). After Knowing then like anyone only what I…
