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 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
“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
“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
“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
“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
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
Top Five Movies from 2017 in which a Person has a Relationship with Someone who Turns out To Be a Monster
Monsters are all around. Beware. Bethany tells us how movies are trying to warn us. … Read More
“Utøya” by John Wall Barger
John Wall Barger’s poems are forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Poetry Ireland Review, and The Antioch Review. His fourth poetry collection, The Mean Game, is coming out with Palimpsest Press in spring… Read More
Danny Shot on NJTV’s State of the Arts
The television program “State of the Arts New Jersey” devoted a recent segment to the Hoboken, New Jersey poet and editor Danny Shot. Lately, Danny has been roaming around the country reading… Read More
Ashley Anna McHugh’s New Poem “The Rite of Spring” appears in the latest installment of Cocytus: A Dark Web Magazine
What's lurking out there on the infamous Dark Web? A lot of unsavory activity and characters, to be sure. But poets? It's already got a reputation for hiding the worst human activity,… Read More
Top Five Eerie Underwater Scenes
I love a good eerie underwater scene. The weightlessness and flowing hair adds a gracefulness to the scenery, while the inability to breathe adds tension. And looking at sets that should be… Read More
“False Elegy” 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
“in the inner city” by Lucille Clifton
The love readers feel for Lucille Clifton—both the woman and her poetry—is constant and deeply felt. The lines that surface most frequently in praise of her work and her person are moving… Read More
Alberto Manguel and the Virtual Memories Podcast
I've really come to enjoy The Virtual Memories Show, hosted by the endlessly curious (and fascinating) Gil Roth, who roams far and wide to interview bookish people, authors, critics, librarians, illustrators, comic… Read More
Top Five Weird Things about Trump and Food
Where there is no love in a relationship, even the way a man holds his fork annoys you; where there is love, he could eat off the floor and you wouldn’t mind.… Read More
“The Body was Dragged Some Distance Before it was Abandoned” and Others by Ernest Hilbert in Journal of American Poetry
My poem "The Body was Dragged Some Distance Before it was Abandoned" appears in Volume 5 of the American Journal of Poetry along with my poems "Until the Sea Above Us Closed… Read More
Top Five Reasons Why Ants are Evil
The movie Ant-Man is coming out on July 17th. I was lucky enough to see a sneak preview of it, and it was quite good. There was only one problem: ants. Ants,… 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 Similarities Between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Il
Kim Jong-Il, the Dear Leader of North Korea, passed away in 2011, but his memory lives on. He is the star of movies like Team America, World Police and the producer of… 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
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
“Plugging Up the Holes” by Nomi Stone
Nomi Stone’s second collection of poems, Kill Class is forthcoming from Tupelo Press in 2019. Winner of a 2018 Pushcart Prize, Stone’s poems appear recently or will soon in POETRY, American Poetry… 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