Ben Lerner on W.S. Merwin January 28, 2010

Ben Lerner is the author of two collections of poetry The Lichtenberg Figures, which won the 2003 Hayden Carruth Award, and Angle of Yaw, which was finalist for the National Book Award. Both are published by Copper Canyon Press. His third book, Mean Free Path, also published by CCP, is due to be released any day now. Publishers Weekly pronounced that Lerner is “among the most promising young poets now writing.”Lerner teaches in the writing…

W.S. Merwin & Friends: Four Poets Share the Stage and Their Thoughts

The pressmark of Copper Canyon Press.The Chinese character for poetry. Comprised of two parts: word and temple. One of the edicts of Copper Canyon Press is to publish books “by both revered and emerging American poets.” On February 4, this commitment comes to life when two time Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin will read with four younger poets from the Copper Canyon stable in a benefit for the press. Joining Merwin at Seattle’s Town…

I Sing the Blue Jeans Electric: Walt Whitman for Levi’s October 27, 2009

“Hi, Walt Whitman for Levi’s. A fustian cloth, rough-hewn, enduring, yeoman, riveted,the fabric of America. These are my pants.Boot-cut. Perfect fit. Get into them, O shapeless, unformed youth!“ American poet, Walt Whitman, has been drafted by advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy of Portland to lead the battle cry, i.e. shill, for the American economy in general and Levi’s jeans in particular in an effort to get the demographic of the young into the venerable working-man’s pants that…

Books Fight Back: Islamabad Bibliophiles Flock to Rare Book Fair Despite Taliban Violence October 19, 2009

Islamabad at night The Taliban attack on Rawalpindi shied large crowds from a rare book exibition-fair at Islamabad’s Nomad Center and Gallery the weekend of October 10-11, 2009 but failed to dampen the spirits of the city’s bibliophiles, who relished the feast. This was, perhaps, a strong signal, prior to the Pakistani army’s recent major offensive against the Taliban, that Pakistani society, in its own offensive action, is pushing back against the forces of regression…

Drive a Book Into Another World August 19, 2009

The following poem was recently posted to Slate with a podcast reading by the author. To Read by Michael McFee He held the opened bookin both hands, at arm’s length, as if he were a student driverpracticing steering this Model ABCthat resisted his touch,that he could tell he wouldn’t knowhow to control once it started, not yet able to ease his gripor surrender his frownand learn to let the sentences unwind,letting their momentumcarry him down…