“Christmas Eve: A Gloss” by David Livwell
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
Listen to a Recording of Ernest Hilbert Reading Poetry of the First World War at the Free Library
Ernest Hilbert reads poetry of the First World War at the Philadelphia Free Library to commemorate the centenary of the war’s end: “Channel Firing” by Thomas Hardy, “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke,… Read More
Journalist Jenny DeHuff Spotted in Caligulan Shirt
Jenny DeHuff is a versatile journalist, able to expose citywide corruption one day (her work in the “Breakfastgate” scandal) and interview members of Slayer the next (she appears in my essay about… Read More
Ernest Hilbert and Others Read Poems of the First World War at the Free Library
Join us for a commemoration of the centennial of the armistice that ended the Great War. A selection of Philadelphia poets will present poems of the “War to End All Wars.” Click… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Reviews a New Book About Edward Gorey for the Washington Post
Edward Gorey’s modern Gothic world is as eerie as it is instantly recognizable: Grim, house-coated patriarchs; wilting, kohl-eyed flappers; fainting hostesses and hapless tots; figures posed peculiarly in deep-shadowed drawing rooms or… Read More
“In Thankful Remembrance for My Dear Husband’s Safe Arrival Sept 3, 1662” by Anne Bradstreet
"Anne Bradstreet was the first non-didactic American poet, the first to give an embodiment to American nature, the first in whom personal intention appears to precede Puritan dogma as an impulse to… Read More
“Homeland Security” by Brian Brodeur
Brian Brodeur is the author of the poetry collections Self-Portrait with Alternative Facts (2019), Natural Causes (2012) and Other Latitudes (2008), as well as the poetry chapbooks Local Fauna (2015) and So… Read More
“Dreamers” by Siegfried Sassoon
"For his generation, the poetry and career of Siegfried Sassoon were emblematic of the ways in which the secure truths of Western civilization were destroyed in the hopeless foxholes of the First… Read More
“One Day This Year” by Anton Yakovlev
Anton Yakovlev’s latest chapbook Chronos Dines Alone, winner of the 2018 James Tate Poetry Prize, is available for pre-order at http://www.survisionmagazine.com/books.htm. He is the author of Ordinary Impalers (Kelsay Books, 2017) and… Read More
“Halloween” by Chad Abushanab
Chad Abushanab is the author of The Last Visit (Autumn House Press 2019), which won the Donald Justice Poetry Prize. He is a PhD candidate in Literature and Creative Writing at Texas… Read More
“All Hallows” by Louise Glück
Glück's voice is like no other in modern American poetry. Her poetic domain--like that of Wallace Stevens--lies in the seclusion of analytic thought. The seamless continuity of her verse suggests a mind… Read More
Top Five Works of Art Destroyed By Idiots
It can take years to create a masterpiece, mere seconds to ruin it. Let's have a look. … Read More
“Frogs in Texas” by Daniel Klawitter
Among other things, Daniel Klawitter has been an actor, a labor rights activist, the lead singer/lyricist for the Indie rock band Mining for Rain, and a poetry book reviewer for NewPages.com. His… Read More
“But Look! Here Come More Crowds”: The First Annual Moby-Dick Marathon Reading
This year, the library’s Manager of Public Programs, Ed Pettit, unveils his mad masterwork, a marathon reading of the entirety of Melville’s epic novel at the Independence Seaport Museum on Penn’s Landing.… Read More
“Poet in the Pit: Slayer, Heavy Metal, and the Limits of Poetry” By Ernest Hilbert
Last year I wound up with a broken rib after spending an hour in a mosh pit at a Slayer concert. It took place on asphalt, at night, in torrential rain, ideal… Read More
Launch Reading for the Best American Poetry 2018
Ernest Hilbert and other contributors will read their poetry for the Best American Poetry 2018 Launch, Thursday, September 20th, 7PM at The New School’s Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, NY 10011. This edition… Read More
Read Daniel Nester’s New Essay “All My Friends”
Daniel Nester’s new essay “All My Friends” returns us to those confusing, sometimes sad and embarrassing years of early adulthood, when we “laugh at the absurdity of the adulthoods we were about to… Read More
Brian Brodeur’s Poem “Juárez, 2008” appears in the latest installment of Cocytus: A Dark Web Magazine
Brian Brodeur’s unsettling poem “Juárez, 2008” appears in the latest installment of Cocytus: A Dark Web Magazine. To visit and read it, simply follow the instructions below. Step one: Download the… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Bids Farewell to Poet Donald Hall
My farewell to American poet Donald Hall appears in the Notes & Comments section at the end of the most recent issue of The New Criterion.… Read More
“Black Woman” by Erica Dawson
“When Rap Spoke Straight to God is utterly transporting. In language both elevated and slangy, saucy and tender, Dawson lovingly weaves the reader around her finger.” - Jennifer Egan… Read More
Top Five Rules of Time Travel
It’s coming. Soon. Eventually. Already. I’m taking about time travel. Scientific advancement is coming at a faster and faster rate. We’ve got driverless cars in our roads and a driverless car in… Read More
“Walking Away” by C. Day Lewis
"I am absolutely sure Cecil's poetry is underrated. He persists in the mind. I only rattle on the ears." - John Betjeman, shortly after succeeding Day-Lewis as Poet Laureate. … Read More
“Mowing” by Robert Frost
"The truth is that Frost was the first American who could be honestly reckoned a master-poet by world standards." - Robert Graves… Read More
“I wound up drinking everyone’s shots”: Luke Stromberg at the West Chester Story Slam
E-Verse's poetry editor Luke Stromberg hit up the West Chester Story Slam this week and gave us this fantastic anecdote about drinking and general debauchery (and inventive excuses the next morning) at… Read More
“Song for a Dark Queen” 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 by Pighog… Read More
“Buck Creek” by Joshua Eric Williams
Joshua Eric Williams is the author of the chapbook The Distant Wild (2017). His work appears in Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Sonic Boom Journal, Measure, and many other online and print poetry outlets.… Read More
Top Five Recent Theater Controversies
Live theater has lost much of the influence it had in its heyday, but lately there have been a number of social controversies that have spilled out into the theater and then… Read More
“Against Therapy” by Allison Joseph
Allison Joseph lives in Carbondale, Illinois, where she is Professor of English and Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Southern Illinois University. She serves as poetry editor… Read More
“The Fire Plug” 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
Swear Town on Beer Lake, Bloat Island in Rum Lake, the Town of Lick Spiggot on the Shores of Whiskey Lake . . .
Check out the "Temperance Map."… Read More