Review of Gauntlet (Atari, 1985) [more inside]
posted by patricio on Oct 15, 2009 - 36 comments

Character actor and comedian Henry Gibson died today at 73. [more inside]
posted by QuestionableSwami on Sep 16, 2009 - 62 comments

the worlds longest poem... I have a twitter account, I hate twitter... but this, somehow, this might define.... well...something..
posted by HuronBob on Aug 19, 2009 - 45 comments

Free Verse [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Apr 9, 2009 - 7 comments

Should you find yourself wandering around the city of Leiden, the Netherlands sometime, you may notice some curious markings on the city's walls.

These Muurgedichten ("Wall Poems") adorn many of the town's streets (clickable map), and many English-language poets are represented: one John Keats, for instance, inside a bookshop; Dylan Thomas, E. E. Cummings, W.B. Yeats, some guy called William Shakespeare, or this ode to Charlie Parker by American William Waring Cuney. [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Apr 5, 2009 - 15 comments

The Gawain Project is an ongoing translation of the late 14th century anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (originally written in Middle English) into Modern English, for the amusement of Arthurians and anyone who likes a good story. [via mefi projects]
posted by Effigy2000 on Feb 13, 2009 - 18 comments

Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky (re)posted Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush" to Slate. Discussion ensued, and became very lively when National Book Award winner Mark Doty observed that the poem contains an overt homage to an earlier poem by Keats. Guggenheim fellow Mark Halliday, MacArthur fellow Jim Powell and Annie Finch chime in. An opportunistic Billy Collins (also a former Poet Laureate & Guggenheim fellow) even showed up, attracted by the discussion of a "bird poem." A fascinating look at some of the finest American poets geeking out over poems that were hits before your mother was born.
posted by eustacescrubb on Jan 2, 2009 - 24 comments

It began when Mr. Klinsky threw in his two cents, a vague request that a poem he had written for and about his family be lodged in a wall somewhere, Ms. Sherry said, “put in a bottle and hidden away as if it were a time capsule.”
Sometimes when you make a simple suggestion about the remodeling of your $8.5 million 5th Ave. apartment, the designer goes a little overboard. In an awesome way. Don't miss the slideshow.
posted by Who_Am_I on Jun 12, 2008 - 81 comments

Anglo-Finnish artist Sanna Annukka's vibrant, flat design work (especially her Icons series) got me curious about her, well, iconography.

She mentioned The Kalevala previously, the Finnish national epic poem (in Finnish here), a tale of creation and heroism that arguably spurred the Finns to independence from the Russians.

Like so much else epic and awesome, it spawned a '70s prog band, with three albums.
posted by klangklangston on Feb 25, 2008 - 23 comments

Poetry's turn to go graphic. The Poetry Foundation has invited a few graphic novelists to illustrate poems from its archive. Via.
posted by Miko on Feb 18, 2008 - 32 comments

Got an embarrassing love letter or humiliating photo from your angsty teenage years you’d like plastered all over the web, perhaps recited aloud and featured in live performances? Thought so
posted by Smedleyman on Jan 22, 2008 - 17 comments

Audio of Dylan Thomas reading his poem "A Child's Christmas in Wales". (real media and mp3)
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Dec 25, 2007 - 7 comments

What to my wondering eyes should appear but the suggestion that "A Visit From St. Nicholas," the classic poem which has defined the American Santa Claus, from red suit and big belly to reindeer and chimney-delivery method, was written not by classics professor Clement Clarke Moore but by poet and military man Henry Livingston. Though some think the authorship controversy is sugarplum vision of Livingston's descendents, other scholars the claim: literary 'detective' Donald Foster agrees (though his sleuthing record is not unblemished). Leading historian of Christmas Stephen Nissenbaum, says that either way, St. Nick is the product of the same social world, that of the wealthy white elite in the New York of the early Republic. If the claim is true, then in the convoluted history of the manuscript we've gotten some reindeer names wrong.
posted by Miko on Dec 24, 2007 - 17 comments

Being But Men. Every year around this time, this interstitial runs and I am reminded of the genius of Dylan Thomas and how much fun it must be to make interstitials for TNT. [more inside]
posted by The Bellman on Dec 10, 2007 - 8 comments

Too Hot To Hear. Fifty years ago today, a San Francisco Municipal Court judge ruled that Allen Ginsberg's Beat-era poem "Howl" was not obscene. Yet today, a New York public broadcasting station decided not to air the poem, fearing that the Federal Communications Commission will find it indecent and crush the network with crippling fines. More on Allen Ginsberg here. Via.
posted by amyms on Oct 5, 2007 - 69 comments

The Story of the Fountain, poem by William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), with 42 woodcut illustrations.
posted by stbalbach on Jul 12, 2007 - 5 comments

Poets on YouTube: Bukowski; Dylan Thomas; Jim Morrison; Allen Ginsberg; Sylvia Plath; Billy Collins; Cookie Monster; and what the hell, even Jacques Brel.

But there's plenty of readings by amateurs as well: for example, lilcutiewithabooty06 reads e e cummings; Michael reads cummings really fast; Tom Waits and Bono read Bukowski; bearded men read Lewis Carroll and Shakespeare; and what if Emily Dickinson had a ukulele?

Mouseover links to see titles; feel free to add your favourites.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Mar 26, 2007 - 29 comments

Why Do You Stay Up So Late? An interactive, illustrated poem. [note: sound and flash animation]... From the wonderful Born Magazine, "an experimental venue marrying literary arts and interactive media." A previous project from Born Magazine was featured on Metafilter in 2004.
posted by amyms on Mar 13, 2007 - 6 comments

Court Decision, re: Fisher v. Lowe, Feb. 1999. Car ends up in man's yard. Man sues driver. Judge administers poetic justice. [via]
posted by Smart Dalek on Jan 30, 2007 - 40 comments

121 years ago today Louis Riel was hanged. A lost poem he wrote for his jailer has a new home at the University of Saskatchewan.
posted by arse_hat on Nov 16, 2006 - 17 comments

Tyger [a short movie]. The poem.
posted by tellurian on May 31, 2006 - 15 comments

"I am still / The black swan of trespass on alien waters." Ernest Lalor Malley (1918-1943). With the posthumous publication of such poems as "Dürer: Innsbruck, 1495" and "Petit Testament" in the journal Angry Penguins, Ern Malley was championed as the new voice of modern Australian poetry. The resulting scandal and obscenity trial would change poetry and literary theory forever. Plus, the ABC's documentary, The Ern Malley Story (listen).
posted by steef on Aug 1, 2005 - 6 comments

metafilter: haiku
happy haiku day, asshats
this haiku vibrates
posted by soplerfo on Jul 5, 2005 - 94 comments

I am wanting, I am thinking To arise and go forth singing The Kalevala is an epic poem written by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century. Definition. Celebration. Suitable musical accompaniment. Previously mentioned here.
posted by arse_hat on Jun 28, 2005 - 20 comments

The time for more public poetry is at hand with the soon-to-arrive National Poetry Month. Perhaps you favor love poems? Poets and Writers listed the 25 best (among those online: #1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 19). Or perhaps ballads with a beat? This was once considered the best example, but this offensive poem is even more famous. Of course, nonsense is good, as is alliteration. Eager to take your own turn? Try some complex forms. Double sestina, anyone?
posted by blahblahblah on Mar 27, 2005 - 21 comments

The notorious Laura (Riding) Jackson, mistress and muse to Robert Graves, among others, is back with a new poem in the New Republic last week. There's a new biography and a new anthology coming out too, but the best things to read are her tirades to the New York Review of Books in response to critiques of her work by Paul Auster and Harry Matthews.
posted by oldleada on Feb 17, 2005 - 17 comments

Did you sing it last night? If so, do you know what it means? Burns didn't orginally write it, but he certainly made sure we'll never forget it.
posted by alumshubby on Jan 1, 2005 - 7 comments

President Bush gave a Press Conference yesterday, and it was only his 17th to date. According to Editor & Publisher, this compares to 43 for Bill Clinton, 84 for George H.W. Bush, and 26 for Ronald Reagan at similar points in their presidencies. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post has an analysis of yesterday's rare event, calling him "elusive". (Milbank was the same reporter who shredded Dubya a couple of years ago for granting an exclusive interview to Rupert Murdoch's trashy UK Sun while snubbing reputable US newspapers that would have been more likely to ask hard-hitting questions.) (The WashPost links require registration, which can be bypassed with BugMeNot.) Don't want to read the entire transcript? Try the poem "Man Date", instead. RudePundit took text from Bush's statements and turned 'em into poetry.
posted by zarq on Dec 21, 2004 - 28 comments

Elimination Dance A quicktime movie based on Michael Ondaatje's poem. "The rules of the dance are simple: if the caller announces a circumstance that has occurred in the lifetime of you or your partner, you must leave the dance floor at once."
posted by dhruva on Dec 15, 2004 - 29 comments

Get A Google Poem
posted by ubueditor on Aug 20, 2004 - 18 comments

From all over the media has recently attacked us
'bout the hangover cure made from extract of cactus
Taken hours before drinking, may ward off the curse...
...but only Charles Osgood has reported in verse.
posted by britain on Jun 30, 2004 - 4 comments

What is the current state of American poetry? Hank Lazer: Perhaps, contrary to the laments, we are now living through a particularly rich time in American poetry—an era of radically democratized poetry...In its anarchic democratic disorganized decentralization, poetry culture has developed in a manner parallel to the computer: the decentralized PC has beaten the main-frame. No one can pretend to know what is out there, or what is next. Who are some of the most notable American poets active in the beginning of the 21st century?
posted by rushmc on May 27, 2004 - 33 comments

Broken Poem Generator.
the pencil strokes-
ones they were
to open half
place in space
posted by soundofsuburbia on Jan 18, 2003 - 12 comments

Onesixty: The SMS Poetry Magazine. Mobile phone poetry, as Andrew Wilson describes it "Text messages are short, so the subject has to be tackled in a way that will fit into 160 characters. A text message poem has to find one truthful moment and describe it." Write your own with this handy abbreviation guide and intro from the Guardian.
posted by Stan Chin on Aug 28, 2002 - 12 comments

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden imbeciles...

The Oulipians dis Wordsworth. [via Follow me Here]
posted by slipperywhenwet on Aug 21, 2002 - 23 comments

KEKeKEKe "Possession of blue objects."
Visual poetry diamond of the Hungarian language - I'd love a pronuciation guide. Have you a favorite lexical chunk?
posted by dorcas on Aug 19, 2002 - 10 comments

I found this poem by Ani Difranco re September 11 at Backwash. It hits the spot for me.
posted by Fat Buddha on Apr 20, 2002 - 42 comments

Slumber, my catkins, my get, my make - Holding you close, I'll be here when you wake - Softly sleep, softly dream, mother is nigh - Sleep tightly and dream to my purr lullaby. - Paul Gallico.
posted by Arqa on Feb 19, 2002 - 16 comments

Maya Angelou rises to the challenge of writing for Hallmark. Angelou finds it "challenging and daring" to craft two-sentence sentiments. And when the Maya Angelou Life Mosaic Collection hits stores this month, you'll be able to read the hard-won sentiments of America's favorite inaugural poet on pillows, wall hangings and banquet bowls.
posted by varmint on Jan 12, 2002 - 71 comments

An interesting look at translation: Australian writer Peter Goldsworthy "on being Spanished, Deutsched, Japanesed, Greeked and Malayed", and what he thinks is gained or lost in the process. (Also: translating poetry.)
posted by eoz on Jan 4, 2002 - 10 comments

In Flanders Fields - by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields


MetaFilter readers wherever you are, please take a moment of silence to honour those who gave their lives so that we could live ours.
posted by PWA_BadBoy on Nov 11, 2001 - 75 comments

Now Winter Nights Enlarge Thomas Campion Rocks! ( In the 17th Century spellcheck, even) ..& Luminarium Rules!
posted by y2karl on Oct 8, 2001 - 8 comments

The Player Piano Randall Jarrell's last poem, perhaps...The pancakes made me think of famous MeFi android Buster Friendly--er, Miguel Cardoso. From The Wandering Minstrels, a poetry log, a plog, I guess...The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner has a certain timely resonance.
posted by y2karl on Oct 4, 2001 - 3 comments

Slow Dance. Saw this "Poem to the Editor" in the paper version of this community rag. Supposed to be written by "a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital."
posted by kcchip on Mar 26, 2001 - 5 comments

When the muse has struck/knowledge and form are entwined/in geeky haiku - (how to decode DVDs) [via /usr/bin/girl]
posted by plinth on Feb 27, 2001 - 8 comments