Monthly Archives: April 2018

On Ashbery’s A Wave

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

John Ashbery’s A Wave is an itch I would scratch if I could. I am drawn to this book, out of all of Ashbery’s books, time and again, drawn to the very mystery of its attraction. True it does contain the … Continue reading →

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Michael Brodsky: Writing as Exposure

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

The individual who has not risked his life may well be recognized as a person, but he has not attained to the truth of this recognition as an independent self-consciousness. —Hegel …. if you go on struggling to name…. you … Continue reading →

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Falling in love with a poem

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

Have you ever? And without being sure why (and half wishing not to know why)? I’m falling in love with a Frank O’Hara poem, untitled (unless you consider “Poem” a title), written circa 1950 when the poet was in his … Continue reading →

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William Carlos Williams: the power and the limits of poetry

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

William Carlos Williams’ The Flower (a petal, colorless) from 1930 is to my mind a quintessential Williams poem (you can read it here if you bear in mind that Williams wrote it in couplets). No one else could have written … Continue reading →

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Lou Reed: Power and Glory

Posted on April 7, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

Power and Glory—The Situation by Lou Reed I was visited by the Power and the Glory I was visited by a majestic hymn Great bolts of lightning Lighting up the sky Electricity flowing through my veins I was captured by … Continue reading →

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Dear Reader or I Want!

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

I’ve been obsessed with the poem Dear Reader by James Tate for some months now.

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Wild at the CDC Poetry Project

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

I’m stoked to be kicking off National Poetry Month at the CDC Poetry Project. Each poem in the project uses all seven words banned by the Trump administration from all Centers for Disease Control communications: entitlement, diversity, vulnerable, fetus, transgender, … Continue reading →

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