Currently viewing the category:
"Shaking Riffs"
For me, the experience of poetry has most often been a painful one. Reading poetry is usually like trying to catch a butterfly—I’m running and leaping and stretching with all I have, trying to get that damn butterfly, but it always remains just out of my grasp. There are some poets with whom I [...]
To ascend into Blake Butler’s fictional worlds, viewed through the prism of his novella Ever, the novel-in-stories Scorch Atlas, and his most recent work, There is No Year, you have to strip the skins of traditional plot and narrative off of you. Strip them off hard, because you’re not going to get that. [...]
On July 19th I visited the local Borders bookstore in York County, Pennsylvania after hearing a wave of rumors about this location closing their doors in the upcoming month. Pulling up to the store I noticed a large red sign hanging above the entryway. My heart plummeted; the rumors must be true I thought as [...]
From the deep south of Baltimore, Maryland, I present to you… okay, so Baltimore isn’t DEEP south, nor has Maryland ever seceded from the union, but Red Sammy would have you think otherwise. Listen to them: you’d swear they were a bunch of Nashville boys charred by the Arizona heat or, better, a couple of [...]
.JPG "Borders Closing")
Book shopping may soon never be the same again. Going to a bookstore like Borders is becoming a thing of the past. However, for traditionalists, like myself, nothing beats the thrill of the hunt in the bargain table, or finding a comfy chair to relax and read the first twenty pages of six different [...]
Lighthead By Terrance Hayes 95 pp. Penguin Books The Irish poet Michael Coady once told me that a collection of poems should be enjoyed in small tastes, as one might enjoy a glass of brandy, rather than devoured in one big gulp like a cheap beer. So, it’s no lie when I tell [...]
We’re born like every other mammal and we live our whole lives around disguised animal thoughts-
Barbara Kingsolver
Excerpt from the novel, House Arrest, by Ellen Meeropol.
Every year, York College of Pennsylvania hosts a ‘Writer in Residence’ who visits the campus for a few days to do readings, teach workshops, and socialize with students. This year, David Shields, author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, came to visit. Being in a unique spot for one of my credited classes, [...]
