The Madeleine Poems

Buying things that don't exist is what poetry is all about.

So why not purchase The Madeleine Poems while it's still just a fresh idea—separate from all the hassles that are inevitably part of being a physical object?*

To be fair, I will include Ezra Pound's argument against pre-ordering The Madeleine Poems—or any book for that matter—in the form of a harangue.

Listen here >

with usura

hath no man a painted paradise on his church wall
harpes et luthes
or where virgin receiveth message
and halo projects from incision,

with usura

seeth no man Gonzaga his heirs and his concubines
no picture is made to endure nor to live with
but it is made to sell and sell quickly

I can offer you no harpes et luthes, but I can offer you some advanced praise and sample poems. Do think it over carefully before making your final decision.

"Into the restless profusion..."

*DISCLAIMER: Ezra Pound might consider this Usura.

Poetry/Wizardry

Wizards have long been at the heart of every real shift in American poetics.

This is why I'm glad that the National Book Association has recently recognized one of our best wizards, Keith Waldrop, as Best Wizard 2010.

(Click the wizard to submit your wizard poetry.)







(Guess which one is the wizard .)




Married to the famous lady-wizard, Rosmarie Waldrop, Keith is proud to represent this class of human being that has done so much work for the dark arts of poetry.

(Waldrop has officially reclaimed the title of "Wizard of Poetry" from Ghostface Killah.)

From Walt Whitman, King of the Wizards, to the wizard-poet Charles Olson, we salute you.

A Journey of Love

After visiting the website, trulysexypoet.com, I've been wondering: what is truly sexy poetry? It's either this or something else.

© Steven Sheets.

I'm leaning towards the latter.

The word 'truly' is what makes me most uncomfortable. It's the confidence with which they proclaim this both sexy and truly sexy that makes me second-guess myself. Either way, I'm glad it's part of the landscape of contemporary American poetry.

"They do not think whom they souse with spray."

Once again.

Who's that man?

To all you poets out there who were looking forward to old age merely so that you could grow a beard, run around naked, strewing butterflies and writing erotic love letters to Abraham Lincoln, look the death of your dreams in it's cold dead face:


Darrel Blaine Ford is a Walt Whitman impersonator of great renown, posing here with the inimitable, somewhat uncomfortable-looking Billy Collins. If you're getting married, having a birthday, or just planning to go bathe with some other young men and need a 28th...don't look for him under your bootsoles, he has an e-mail address: waltwhitmanofli@aol.com.

But just in case you thought this was indicative of a larger trend that you've been missing out on, you're right.

The greats have returned to the 21st Century and are available for one-on-one conversations, including: Galileo, Mother Goose, Amelia Earhart, Sojourner Truth (!!NEW!!), Abraham Lincoln, and much more.

Hold up.

Joe Brainard, Frank O'Hara, Joe LeSueur and Frank Lima (standing).
Elwyn Chamberlain, 1964.

What I want for Christmas.

Granary Books has recently put up the entirety of Robert Creeley's library for sale--leading me and each of my co-workers to shell out $25-300 bucks for a piece of Bobby's books.

If you would like to donate money so that I can buy this naked picture of Joe Brainard, I will kindy repost it to this site. For this extensive purpose, I am now going to look into a PayPal account.

Paul Legault is on the Internet

Once again.