Author Archives: Pearl

Poet and Photographer Sharon Harris read first. The subject was the pataphysics of the science of love. It is based out of love and her Avatar collection of poems. For its launch she painted herself purple. John W’s Photo of Sharon Harris at the Factory reading July 19th catches the spirit of her presentation, in […]

The Winged Seed: A remembrance was the last of Li-Young Lee’s book for me to get. The book’s an easy fit in the mind at the same time with What’s Left by rob mclennan. I’ve already gone thru that twice and a bit. (Although I’m not at half way thru rob mclennen’s titles yet). They […]

“Sometimes a short line seems to me unearned, as if the poet’s trying to make the words weightier by giving you fewer to the pound.” — Ed Parsons I was thinking about this recently. Is convention affected by media? When paper was scarce and pricier, it made sense to follow a convention of periods and […]

I’ve been reading Zen Mercies, Small Satoris by Marianne Bluger. It is her ninth collection of poems, this one put out by Penumbra Press. The next couple would be published after her death. At first the opening tanka struck me as simple, then deceptively simple in the way an elegant vase is. Then as days […]

A quote from Robert Peake on putting constrasting lines side by side, briefly, densely, intensely: “the ancient Chinese poet Li Ho did as well – collecting individual lines to stitch together. This technique seems to naturally focus itself around compelling imagery (though the music can often be just as important). Alcosser also pointed out that […]