“Inwood Inlet” by Arianna Higgins
I am not here to watch black water rise, Or reach what I can not: the inlet’s stillness Lapping shoreless wooded promontories. I do not approach stone for some new sunrise Or… Read More
“The Man In The Dead Machine” by Donald Hall
“However wrenching [Hall’s poems] may be from line to line, they tell a story that is essentially reassuring: art and love are compatible, genius is companionable, and people stand by one another… Read More
Short Film of Richard Wilbur and Robert Lowell
This is a charming little film about Richard Wilbur and Robert Lowell made sometime in the early to mid-1960’s. In black and white footage, we see Wilbur in a suit (sometimes with… Read More
Photos from the Mexico City Performance of “Nights of 1998”
As E-Verse readers will know from earlier posts (here and here), my poem “Nights of 1998,” from my book All of You on the Good Earth, was set to music by composer… Read More
Top Five Movies and TV Shows with the Wrong People Having Relationships Behind the Scenes
It's always sweet when a couple playing lovers ends up falling in love for realz. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, etc. But sometimes, two people starring in a… Read More
“A Frowsy Whore with Black Straw Sailor Hat Askew Came Glazily in the Day”: Hilbert Reads from the “Sirens” Chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses for the Rosenbach Musem & Library’s Annual Bloomsday
“A frowsy whore with black straw sailor hat askew came glazily in the day along the quay towards Mr Bloom. When first he saw that form endearing? Yes, it is. I feel… Read More
E-Verse Celebrates a New Book from Paul Siegell!
We here at E-Verse are enormous fans, fanatics, in fact, of Philadelphia poet Paul Siegell. It’s been too long since we’ve had a new book of his playful, innovative poetry to mull… Read More
Top Five Times Trump was Concerned with Pee and Bathrooms
The "Pee Tape.” We’ve all heard about it. Is it real? I’m not going to touch that question with a ten foot pole. But here are the top five other times that… Read More
“Memorial Days” by Ernest Hilbert
My poems “Memorial Days” and “Alpine” appear in the issue Issue 10:2 of Literary Matters, along with new writing “ranging from former U.S. Poets Laureate to a current High School Senior,” including… Read More
Episode Two of Works Cited: Kevin and the Lukes Talk About “My Story in a Late Style of Fire” by Larry Levis
“My Story in a Late Style of Fire” by Larry Levis Whenever I listen to Billie Holiday, I am reminded That I, too, was once banished from New York City. Not because… Read More
“Threnody” by William Carlos Williams
"It is not what you say that matters but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages." - William Carlos Williams… Read More
Christopher LaRosa’s setting of Ernest Hilbert’s poem “Nights of 1998” Headed for Mexico City
Composer Christopher LaRosa recently set to music my poem “Nights of 1998,” from my book All of You on the Good Earth, for a baritone accompanied by sinfonietta. The piece premiered on Thursday,… Read More
“Meeting Point” by Louis MacNeice
"Poetry in my opinion must be honest before anything else and I refuse to be 'objective' or clear-cut at the cost of honesty." - Louis MacNeice… Read More
Works Cited: A New Poetry Podcast
It's a gritty, downright underground project right now, and I hope it catches on. I'm told they have the entire first season recorded, so we have much more to look forward to.… Read More
Ernest Hilbert’s Poem “Haunts” on NPR’s Morning Edition
A recording of my poem “Haunts” aired on WHYY FM, Philadelphia’s NPR Station, 90.9 MHz, as part of a National Poetry Month feature on Morning Edition, hosted by Jennifer Lynn. It's a… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Writes about Books in the Wall Street Journal
I had a chance to review three new books about books for the Spring books insert at the Wall Street Journal. Check it out.… Read More
Top Five Horror Franchises that Went to Space
When Star Trek’s visionary creator Gene Roddenberry gave us the immortal phrase “Space . . . the final frontier,” he was probably hoping to encapsulate the hopes and dreams of mankind in… Read More
“Summer Elegy” by David Livewell
David Livewell grew up in Philadelphia and won the 2012 T.S. Eliot Award for Poetry for Shackamaxon (Truman State University Press). He is now at work on a second collection.… Read More
AoYotGE for National Poetry Month at the Cambridge Public Library
I was pleased to learn that my books were on display at the Cambridge Public Library in Massachusetts for National Poetry Month. I asked librarian Daniel Wuenschel to send a photograph, but by… Read More
“Celle Qui Fut Heaulmiette” by Wallace Stevens
“After the reader has admired certain lines because Shakespeare might have written them, he begins to admire them because only Stevens could.” - Robert Fitzgerald … Read More
“After Glynn Williams’ The Flowering of the English Baroque” by James Brookes
James Brookes was born in 1986 and grew up in Sussex. He received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2009, and his pamphlet The English Sweats was published… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Reviews Daniel Kalder’s The Infernal Library for the Washington Post
Of all the genres one might imagine, dictator literature, books written by or on behalf of despots, must be among the most curious and troubling. I review Daniel Kalder's book The Infernal Library:… Read More
“Scenes from a Storm: Valentine’s Day, 2018” by Olga Dugan
Olga Dugan is a Cave Canem poet. Her award-winning poems appear or are forthcoming in Virga, The Sunlight Press, Origins, The Peacock Journal, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Kweli, The Southern Quarterly, The Red… Read More
Hear and Watch Ernest Hilbert’s “Nights of 1998” Set to Music by Christopher LaRosa
You can now hear and watch "Nights of 1998" on a live stream here by clicking on "New Music Ensemble, David Dzubay director."… Read More
“Science Fiction” by Kingsley Amis
"He is an intelligent poet and critic, an effective journalist and a straightforward, honest writer of fiction which is both entertaining and firmly committed to traditional moral values.” - R.G.G. Price… Read More
B-List Trump Facts from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury
A few months ago, the book Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, an expose of the Trump White House behind the scenes, got a lot of publicity. A few key dishy points… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Reviews John Y. Cole’s New History of the Library of Congress in the Washington Post
My review of a new history of the Library of Congress appears in today's Sunday Washington Post. Check it out. I notice they altered my bio slightly to make me a "dealer… Read More
“What’s Left of Apollo” by Jan Schreiber, adapted from R. M. Rilke
Jan Schreiber was born in 1941 and grew up in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. He received his BA at Stanford University, his MA at the University of Toronto, and his PhD in English… Read More
Monday Poets at the Free Library Featuring Catherine Staples and Ernest Hilbert
Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103… Read More
“How to Write the Great Jersey Poem” by Danny Shot
Danny Shot was a longtime publisher and editor of Long Shot arts and literary magazine, which he founded along with Eliot Katz in 1982 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. … Read More