I could be wrong, but I suspect that a majority of readers, if polled, would say that writers in the United States are less political than their peers of the prior generation. No less than the Nobel committee has called American writers too “insular and ignorant” to compete with European authors. One need only look … Continue reading »

Today is the 2nd Annual  Read Across America Day, celebrated on March 2 to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. To quote from the Seussville site, “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.” I suspect that many poetry lovers first developed an ear for language … Continue reading »

The new issue of the New York Review of Books features an essay by Jason Epstein that is worth checking out. Publishing: The Revolutionary Future updates and elaborates on ideas he forwarded in his 2001 work: Book Business: Publishing Past Present and Future. Epstein has long been a force in the publishing world, and predicted … Continue reading »

I stumbled upon an article from Mother Jones about the demise of literary magazines. You can find it here. Although the article is specifically addressing the fate of literary magazines that are associated with colleges and universities, this article caught my attention because  a) Spout obviously has a strong interest in the preservation of literary … Continue reading »

On Valentine’s Day, I went over to my friend Steve’s house and I made him play poetry games with me. Poetry games, which have been enjoyed for thousands of years, are one way that many modern poets such as Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and Charles Bukowski (who, by the way, is a past Spout contributor) and more … Continue reading »

“The Wasteland” just got weirder.  I haz a feeling you will like this. Continue reading »

Check out the award winning poem “Half Asleep” from Spout Press author Kirsten Dierking (Northern Oracle) on the mnartists site. When I first read this poem, I could not find the words to elegantly describe the impact of the piece, but luckily Juror Joyce Sidman gets it right in her assessment. Continue reading »

Better living is ambitious, but that is how we roll. Continue reading »