Poetry

Latest Articles

Female poets step up to the mic

Could be verse
While down in Cambridge last August with a team of Portland poets for the semi-finals of the National Poetry Slam, Tricia Henley Pryce says, she never saw more than one woman up on stage at a time.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | February 08, 2012

Review: Pariah

Dee Rees's first feature
Compared to the non-stop trauma of Precious , or even Gun Hill Road , Dee Rees's first feature plays like an episode of The Cosby Show .
By PETER KEOUGH | January 03, 2012

Whispers of immortality

Failure
'Twas the night before Christmas.
By KARL STEVENS | December 13, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

The Ocean State Review makes its debut

Letters
Nick-a-Nee's bar was the venue for the recent launch of The Ocean State Review , the University of Rhode Island's new literary journal.
By TIM LEHNERT | November 02, 2011

Nicole Atkins finds peace in her darkness

Fade to black
A lot seemed to go wrong for Atkins after Columbia Records released her classic-pop imbued debut Neptune City four years ago. The singer of the newly rechristened Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea watched everyone responsible for getting her signed to a coveted major label deal get fired within months.
By JONATHAN DONALDSON | August 09, 2011

A rose for Charlie, in song

In Memoriam
On July 7, 1984, three teenagers threw 23-year-old Charlie Howard off of the State Street Bridge in Bangor.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 06, 2011

'Past Life Martyred Saints' album from EMA

EMA | Past Life Martyred Saints

Souterrain Transmissions (2011)
This hasn't been a bad year for music, but there haven't been a lot of songs that hit in such a way that there's a physical need to hear them again — immediately. But Past Life Martyred Saints, the solo debut from former Gowns frontlady Erika M. Andersen, conveniently shortened to EMA and pronounced in acronym-form, does have such a song.
By RYAN STEWART | June 09, 2011

Thanks all around

Words for Waldrop; GOP = fun; some god news; random notes
"Thanks All Around" is the title of the opening section of Jaimy Gordon's novel, Shamp of the City-Solo (published in 1974).
By RUDY CHEEKS | May 12, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

Performing words written en route to Auschwitz

Poetic collage
It is barely conceivable how one woman, at a way station en route to Auschwitz, wrote so ardently of purple lupine.
By BY MEGAN GRUMBLING | May 06, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

Whitcomb's legacy

Feel the poetry rattling your bones
It is unlikely that James Whitcomb Riley, a turn-of-the-century poet for a short time considered the heir to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ever envisioned his work accompanied by music quite like this.
By SAM PFEIFLE | March 23, 2011

Lee Chang-dong's oblique, affecting film

Poetic justice
Mija (Yun Jung-hee) is 60ish but still a looker, a quality she's aware of. She dresses elegantly even when she's going about her chores as a cleaning woman — which include bathing Mr. Kang (Kim Hi-ra), the elderly, paralyzed patriarch of the family who've hired her.
By PETER KEOUGH | March 03, 2011

Photos: B. Dolan at the Western Front

B. Dolan | Western Front | February 11, 2011
B. Dolan perform live at the Western Front on February 11, 2011.
By DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN | February 18, 2011

Valentine's rhymes

Hoopleville
Roses are rose ...
By DAVID KISH | February 09, 2011

Iron & Wine | We Kiss Each Other Clean

Warner Bros. (2011)
Sam Beam, the bearded craftsman otherwise known as Iron & Wine, is the very personification of musical consistency.
By RYAN REED | February 01, 2011

Blood Wedding on January 15, at SPACE Gallery

Music seen
Not a death-metal Billy Idol cover band but a lyrical tragedy written by Federico Garcia Lorca in 1932, last weekend's production of Blood Wedding at SPACE Gallery was at turns graceful and punishingly fraught.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 19, 2011

Jenny Holzer's projections remake buildings

Big words
Jenny Holzer is not an architect, but in 2004, when she projected those words onto the stone facade of the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan's Times Square, the historic building acquired a character it had never before seen.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | December 01, 2010

Review: David Young knows where he's going

Poet's progress
David Young's Selected and New Poems is a good book by a good poet. You'll have to take my word for that, because I am not going to quote from his poems.
By WILLIAM CORBETT | October 27, 2010

Lit snobs, hot librarians, and the rise of the literary tattoo

Bookmarked
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich was sitting down for a meal at Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, when she found herself under critique.
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | October 10, 2010

Red Sox Nation, meet your new existential dread

Balls, pucks, and monster trucks
For my entire life, I have esteemed the Red Sox above all other teams.
By RICK WORMWOOD | October 07, 2010

Review: Howl

More of a whimper, really
This meditation from documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman on what might be America's most famous poem succeeds more as a glimpse into a great artist's creative process than as a movie, though give it credit for ambition.
By PETER KEOUGH | September 28, 2010

Where Maine reads

A decade into Portland's indie-bookstore movement, brick-and-mortar shops are holding their own
Perhaps the most exciting part of my day working at Longfellow Books was The Spider Incident, which involved said arachnid emerging from a potted plant around 10:30 am to terrorize staff members and scurry, unscathed, underneath a shelf.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 29, 2010

Interview: Maya Angelou shares her wisdom

Dare to be courageous
Though poet, writer, performer, teacher, and director Maya Angelou has made several visits to Rhode Island over the past two decades, her words of wisdom are always pointed reminders to those who have heard her speak before and wake-up calls to those who haven't.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | September 14, 2010

Providence Student Survival Guide: List of lists

New to Vo Dilun? Trust us, you need this
It's back-to-campus time. You've got shopping lists, book lists, syllabi, class rosters, and Facebook. Who would possibly think you could handle more lists? We would, that's who.
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX STAFF | August 31, 2010

Pimping his ride

History Dept.
This week, the Paul Revere Memorial Association and the Old South Meeting House kick off a free, month-long lecture series to take place at the latter.
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | September 01, 2010

A woman's writing conference comes to Brown

Words, Words, Words
Hannelore Hahn understands the liberating power of writing.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | July 28, 2010

Marathon man

Reclaiming the tea party, one poem at a time
"Most poets can't tie their own shoes," says Jim Behrle. "They don't know what time it is."
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | August 02, 2010

Review: Basho Japanese Brasserie

A tasty fusion of new and traditional Japanese fare
Weirdly situated in the Fenway, this large restaurant from the owners of Back Bay's Douzo conveys an immediate sense of space well apportioned, with the minimalist fascination of the best haiku.
By ROBERT NADEAU | June 24, 2010