Mailer v. Kakutani
Sounds like somebody’s scurred. And he deals with it by launching ridiculous insults at Michiko Kakutani, one of the New York Times’ best book reviewers. Long-time misogynist Norman Mailer tells a Rolling Stone interviewer: Kakutani is a one-woman kamikaze. She disdains white male authors, and I’m her number-one favorite target. One of her cheap tricks [...]
...read moreThe 10 most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries
Because book burning isn’t a bad thing, is it? The list is topped by The Communist Manifesto — which, apparently, is even worse than Mein Kamf. Huh. Forget that, even if you disagree with the Communist Manifesto, it’s still a pretty impressive work. Also on the list: The Feminine Mystique (because it let the ladies [...]
...read moreNPM: Yellow Rage
You wanna butter me up like you butter your rice and tie me down to your bed of stereotypes. Via Shannon, this slam poetry duo of two Philly-based, Asian-American women kicks some serious ass. They are sarcastic, righteous, defiant, funny, and rude to boot, touching on fetishes and cultural appropriation among other dialogues involving gender, [...]
...read moreNPM: Carolyn Kizer
For those who don’t know, a pantoum is a poem composed in quatrains in which the second and fourth lines are repeated as the first and third lines of the following quatrain. For other confusing forms, see the villanelle and the terzanelle. This isn’t a perfect example of a pantoum, but it is a lovely [...]
...read moreStupid Book Thingie
I was really hoping that no one would pass me this game, but since someone (who shall remain nameless) did, I feel an obligation to complete it. This would be so much easier with music, I must say. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book I didn’t like. In the interest of killing this [...]
...read moreNPM: Lucille Clifton
It’s a late night here working on the final touches of my you-will-love-poetry-dammit unit designed for tenth graders. The oolong tea isn’t holding me up any longer. And my back hurts. Ms. Clifton, however, may be my saving grace. wishes for sons i wish them cramps. i wish them a strange town and the last [...]
...read moreNPM: Nikki Giovanni
My favorite poem, as requested by the house poet: Balances in life one is always balancing like we juggle our mothers against our fathers or one teacher against another (only to balance our grade average) 3 grains of salt to one ounce truth our sweet black essence or the funky honkie down the street and [...]
...read morePoets: A Request
I’m working on my unit plan on poetry and have run into a writing wall. I’m drawing blanks on post-Reconstruction American poets and need some examples of poets who are usable in a public high school. Not to mention compelling enough to use in a high school. Funny that I can come up with tons [...]
...read moreNPM: Sylvia Plath
It should be a requirement of all angsty adolescent girls to read and adore Sylvia Plath. Like I did. I wrote lines from her poems all over my notebooks and school things: “like the cat I have nine times to die” “Dying / Is an art, like everything else. / I do it exceptionally well. [...]
...read moreNPM: Christina Rossetti
Although I prefer the moralistic mysticism of Christina Rossetti’s The Goblin Market, this one seems most appropriate. This one is for Dad. Remember Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning [...]
...read moreNPM: Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie is one of my favorite authors. His book “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” is one of the only books I’ve read that has made me cry openly in public. Heart-wrecking, wrenching sobs. Yes it was embarrassing, but totally worth it. This poem, “Reservation Love Song,” makes one think of simple [...]
...read moreNPM: Kim Addonizio
I love this poem like I love Edie in Desperate Housewives (and yes, I love Desperate Housewives). It’s everything a woman isn’t supposed to be: direct, demanding, and not a sexual object, but a sensual subject. Add a wee bit of bitter vulnerability, covered by pride. Damn good poem. I doubt this is the answer [...]
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