Three Clerihews by Anthony Harrington
Born and raised in the Philadelphia area many decades ago, Anthony Harrington was educated in a local seminary where he was exposed to the Classics, Philosophy, and Theology, strains of which keep… Read More
“Literacy” by X.J. Kennedy
"A worthy heir... to the indispensably impertinent likes of Catullus amd Dean Swift―cheerfully serving notice that there's still nothing like an artfully pithy piece of verse for making short work of killjoys."… Read More
“The Pool” by Helen Pinkerton
“A master of poetic style and of her material. No poet in English writes with more authority.” - Yvor Winters … Read More
The Rosenbach Presents Nosferatu, with Organ Accompaniment by Frederick R. Haas
The Rosenbach Museum and Library of Philadelphia is hosting a screening of the classic silent movie accompanied by the Wurlitzer organ (originally built to accompany silent films and now fully restored) in… Read More
“Honeymoon Palsy” by Juliana Gray
Juliana Gray is the author of Honeymoon Palsy (Measure Press, 2017), Roleplay (Dream Horse Press, 2012), which won the 2010 Orphic Prize, and The Man Under My Skin (River City Publishing, 2005),… Read More
“Not They Who Soar” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"We reclaim, in Paul Laurence Dunbar, a significant American author whose career transcends race and locality even while he makes use of racialized and regional cultural materials to create an African-American… Read More
Ernest Hilbert on Illustrated Dust Jackets in the Washington Post
We are cautioned to avoid judging a book by its cover, yet that is precisely what publishers hope we will do. Dust jacket illustration, which came into its own in the 1920s,… Read More
Books Read or Reread by Ernest Hilbert in 2017
I don't get to nearly as many books as I used to, but I still manage to sneak a few in. Here are the ones I got to in 2017. I'd love… Read More
Luke’s Favorite Music of 2017
Associate Poetry Editor Luke Stromberg brings you his favorite music of 2017. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, we have also included a Spotify playlist of his favorite… Read More
“To Eros” by Alfonsina Storni translated from the Spanish by Nicholas Friedman
Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) is an important Argentine and Latin-American modernist poet. Nicholas Friedman is the author of Petty Theft, which won the 2018 New Criterion Poetry Prize and will be published by… Read More
“Don’t Tell Me There’s No Hope” by Dick Allen
Dick Allen was the author of several poetry collections, including Zen Master Poems, This Shadowy Place, Present Vanishing, The Day Before, and Ode to the Cold War: Poems New and Selected. He… Read More
“Trance” by Paul Muldoon
"Muldoon's is a poetry which sees into things, and speaks of the world in terms of its own internal designs and patterns." - Roger Conover… Read More
“I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” by Wizzard
Remember when rock was fun and weird? … Read More
“Villonaud for this Yule” by Ezra Pound
"Ezra Pound is the poet who, a thousand times more than any other man, has made modern poetry possible in English." - Donald Hall… Read More
“Fall on your Knees” by Kevin Cutrer
Kevin Cutrer’s first collection of poems, Lord’s Own Anointed, was published by Dos Madres Press in 2015. More recent work has appeared in Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel, and is forthcoming… Read More
“The Sculpture (To—)” by Bill Knott
"No modern poet I know shuffles together such tenderness of heart with such wild metaphoric play." - Billy Collins… Read More
Hear Afaa M. Weaver Interviewed by Ernest Hilbert Live at Fergie’s Pub
Ernest Hilbert interviewed poet, translator, and professor Afaa M. Weaver before a live audience at Fergie's Pub in Philadelphia on the afternoon of Sunday, November 19th, 2017. … Read More
“Migratory Patterns” by Luke Bauerlein
Luke Bauerlein's poems and essays have previously appeared in the NY Times, Rattle, BODY, Unsplendid, and elsewhere. He currently resides in Phoenixville PA and writes songs and performs with the band, The… Read More
Three Poems by Susan Delaney Spear
Susan Delaney Spear, poet and librettist, holds an MFA in poetry with an emphasis in verse-craft from Western State Colorado University. She teaches poetry and creative writing at Colorado Christian University in… Read More
“Spirit Boxing” by Afaa M. Weaver
It is the tightness in the gut when the load is heavy enough to knock me over backward, turn me back on my heel until my ankle cracks and I holler out… Read More
What Lurks Down There? Ernest Hilbert’s Dark Web Magazine, Cocytus
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
“Poetry” by Michael Collins
Michael Collins is the author of The Traveling Queen: Selected Poems of Michael Collins (Sheep Meadow Press 2013) and Understanding Etheridge Knight (University of South Carolina Press 2012). He has published poems,… Read More
“A Thanksgiving to God, for his House” by Robert Herrick
"One of the most accomplished nondramatic poets of his age." - The Poetry Foundation… Read More
“Childlessness” by Amy Gerstler
Amy Gerstler is a writer of poetry, nonfiction and journalism. Her books include Scattered at Sea (2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Dearest Creature (2009); Ghost Girl (2004);… Read More
“Mars Ultor” by Ernest Hilbert
"Just as the work of the modernists showed that the best free verse usually has something masterfully formal about it, Hilbert’s fine collection might serve to remind us that the best formal… Read More
“An American Bookman in England”
Pulitzer-prize winning book critic and collector Michael Dirda recently visited England to deliver the Richard Lancelyn Green lecture to the Sherlock Holmes Society of London (his talk was titled "The Rivals of… Read More
Afaa Michael Weaver Interviewed Live by Ernest Hilbert
Hey, Philly, I'll be interviewing award-winning poet Afaa Michael Weaver as part of the Moonstone Gold series at Fergie's Pub, 1214 Sansom Street. Further info appears below. Hope to see you there!… Read More
“First Ghost” by Juliana Gray
Juliana Gray is the author of Honeymoon Palsy (Measure Press, 2017), Roleplay (Dream Horse Press, 2012), which won the 2010 Orphic Prize, and The Man Under My Skin (River City Publishing, 2005),… Read More
“Laughter in the Charnel House” by Jeff Holt
Jeff Holt is the author of The Harvest (White Violet Press, 2012). Jeff's poem, "A Madwoman," was featured in the most recent issue of Measure, and he has previously published poems in… Read More
“Dream of Dying” by Thomas Lovell Beddoes
"Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803-1849) is a latter-day Jacobean, the author of blank verse plays and poems which are as bold, wild and fresh as they are archaic in manner. We read his… Read More