Once again, as the spring semester of classes has now concluded and graduation ceremonies are held this weekend, like the figure above in Pablo Picasso’s Young Girl Reading a Book on the Beach, many soon will be dipping into their summer reading material. Therefore, I thought this...

In celebration of “Cousin” David Byrne’s birthday: May 14, 1952

The VPR Poem of the Week is Gaylord Brewer’s “Apologia to Mars and Moon,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2005 issue (Volume VI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. Gaylord Brewer is a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, where he founded and edits the journal...

My initial acquaintance with David Wojahn occurred decades ago when we met at a party just before his first book, Icehouse Lights, was published as the Yale Younger Poets Award winner selected by Richard Hugo. BOA Editions had recently published my own first volume of poems...

Most readers of "One Poet’s Notes" know that the wonderful poet, Craig Arnold, went missing recently while exploring a volcano in Japan. Craig has been an avid adventurer, traveling exotic locations, climbing the sides of volcanoes, and writing of his experiences. Indeed, in a sad irony that Craig would appreciate, he wrote on his Facebook page under “Activities: Writing poems. Walking up & down & sometimes falling off volcanoes.” Craig had been maintaining a blog, “Volcano Pilgrim,” chronicling his travels in Japan that I recommend everyone examine. In addition, Craig was a fellow alum (both of us poets graduating from the PhD program in English at the University of Utah) and...

As the Mother’s Day weekend is upon us, I’d like to suggest readers revisit Philip Levine’s title poem, “The Mercy,” from a collection published in 1999. Levine includes a dedication to his mother at the beginning of the book, and the poem chosen for the volume’s title recounts his mother’s arrival...

Executive Editor Dan Wickett of Dzanc Books has announced “the list of authors, titles and journals involved for the 59 stories, flashes, poems and essays that will be in Best of the Web 2009” anthology in bookstores next month. In addition, the publisher has made available a web page...

This week Ellen Bryant Voigt was named as the recipient of the 2009 Poets' Prize for Messenger: Selected Poems 1976-2006, published by W.W. Norton. The finalists were Marvin Bell for Mars Being Red (Copper Canyon Press), Kelly Cherry for Hazard and Prospect...

The VPR Poem of the Week is Tony Barnstone’s “Oh, Great, He Gets To Go on Vacation,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2005 issue (Volume VI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. Tony Barnstone’s collections of poetry include Sad Jazz: Sonnets, published by Sheep...