i.m. Michael Gizzi, 1949-2010

A splendid poet. You can read about him at Penn Sound.

A truly pluralist UK event

When one of last year's Eliot Prize judges commented on the breadth of the shortlist, when another poet commented on the impressive range of the Ted Hughes Award shortlist, I laughed, as the breadth of each seemed about the width of my thumbnail.

Now comes an outstanding "colloquy of poets" at the University of Hull this November, where Philip Gross and Tony Lopez have each invited four favourite poets to read with them in a wonderful array of readers and poetries: John Burnside, Kelvin Corcoran, Peter Manson, Daljit Nagra, Denise Riley, Zoe Skoulding, Carol Watts, and Susan Wicks. Unfortunately, the event is the same weekend as the National Association for Writers in Education annual conference, so I'll miss it, but if you'd like to attend (and report back?), you can find further details here--just scroll down to 13-14 November.

The Tethers recommended

In Inpress's September newsletter, Julia Copus recommends The Tethers alongside Catherine Smith's The Butcher's Hands, Carol Ann Duffy's Mean Time, and Selima Hill's Gloria: Selected Poems. Hurrah!

Interview in Bath Life

There's a light interview with me at the end of the September-October issue of Bath Life (page 170, to be exact). It was a pleasure to talk about Bradford on Avon and Bath in particular.

i.m. Henry Ross Etter, 26 September 1940-13 March 2009

Oh Daddy--

And another online review

of Infinite Difference! Rob McLennan calls it "magnificent".

Carol Rumens' "Daylight Spending"

Having returned from the States on Tuesday and thinking last night about how much the earlier dark affected me, I was reading Carol Rumens' new book, De Chirico's Threads, and came across this poem. I appreciate its density, how much it suggests about the nuances of living with changing light and time, and the straightforward, but not every line, rhyme. I love the opening phrase, "Atrophied days"--that's exactly right, it seems to me.

Daylight Spending

Atrophied days begin with too much light,

Cut teeth too soon, develop, and start dying

Too young. They leave us to negotiate

The road that steepens after clocks start lying

Perhaps, though, they were lying earlier?

We've put them back for synchronicity

With our sweet flaws: the legless sleeps, the dither,

The touching faith in electricity.

Carol Rumens

De Chirico's Threads

(Seren Books, 2010)

You can buy De Chirico's Threads at a 20% discount directly from the publisher.

"As It Stands: Innovation, the Post-Avant, and Current Publishing Practices"

This interesting overview of the situation of other poetries in the UK comes from Amy De'Ath.

Another review of Infinite Difference

Another complimentary review of Infinite Difference appears online at Eyewear, written by Steve Van-Hagen.

Stephen Burt reviews Infinite Difference on the London Review of Books blog

Read it here.

"The Separation" on Poetry Radio

You can listen to it here.

L.A. Times on US poet laureate Merwin's environmental credentials

Read it here.

Leslie Scalapino tribute

Fellow fans of Leslie Scalapino's work will appreciate the four-day tribute to her work appearing on Delirious Hem.

"Pursuit, Dublin"

Helen Ivory asked for a poem for her Ink, Sweat & Tears blog, so today's post is my poem, "Pursuit, Dublin," originally published in the TLS.

Women's Poetry Anthologies

I'm off to London shortly for tonight's event at The Poetry Library, "What Every Woman Would Carry: Women's Poetry Anthologies," moderated by Dr Jane Dowson, author of A Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century British Women's Poetry; my fellow panelist is Maura Dooley, editor of Making for Planet Alice: New Women's Poetry (Bloodaxe, 1997). Thoughts?