The Grapevine
The barbaric arts
The philosophist Theodor Adorno famously stated, in 1949, that writing a poem after Auschwitz was barbaric. He proceded: “And this corrodes even the knowledge of why it has become impossible to write poetry today”. With some simplification poetry may be understood as an art of beauty, and indeed that is how poetry has been perceived... »
So what, you gonna cry now?
Most poetry’s pretty fucked up. It tries hard to be hard. Not only hard to understand, but also hard to touch – hard to feel. Sentiment isn’t really welcome in poetry anymore, it’s been outlawed. Sentiment is bad for poetry. It eats up the poetry and excretes it as pure whiny mush. As is usually... »
The Death of a Poem
Poetry is a culture heavily impregnated with the idolisation of poets. Popular knowledge of poetry stops where the anecdotes about poets end and the poetry begins. We remember Rimbaud as the original rockstar, vomiting all over the Paris culture elite. We remember Ginsberg as the mad fairy who blew people in parties and undressed... »
Poetry and Prose
The difference between poetry and prose? Poetry sings, prose talks. Poetry dances, prose walks. Poetry’s fewer words with more (“deeper”) meaning. Poetry’s about form while prose is about content. Poetry’s the memory and prose the remembrance. Poetry’s constructed in lines, whereas prose is constructed in paragraphs. Don’t know, but I know it when I see it! The... »
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I recently saw a norwegian sketch on Youtube about the invention of the book. A medieval man has just gotten his first book and can’t seem to get it to work, so he has to ask for help. A help desk employee shows up to guide him through this new state-of-the-art technology, showing him... »
I’ll have what he’s having
Are you tired of writing your own damn poems? Does it feel like you’d rather plunge through the fiery gates of hell rather than come up with one more metaphor/ simile/ aphorism to explain the human condition? There’s so much poetry in the world already! So much language! Why make more? Now, what if there... »
Speaking like a God
They say human beings use language to make sense of their surroundings. We frame, categorize and systematize the objects around us with the help of nouns and verbs and adjectives. The sky is blue. The horse gallops swiftly. The sentence is a ridiculous rhetorical filler. We do this to understand eachother, to convey information,... »
Babe, come onto me
Lo, the oogly woogly wiggly toes of my puffinous pinkster! Lo, the perpetual whirlpool of his gung ho rainbows! Lo, the sabre-dancing jiggifunk of his eyeyeyeyeyes! Behold his umpteen-breasted olympic warrior, mother-of-it-all, and recognize! »
The Longest Poem in the World
Three hundred and fifty thousand, seven hundred and fourteen verses. Twenty lines per verse, and every line rhymes with the following one. That’s how long Andrei Gheorghe’s poem is. It’s almost four times longer than the Mahabharata of ancient India. Forty times longer than The Iliad and The Odyssey combined and twenty times longer... »
Killing yourself with poetry
‘Twas the eve of Nýhils 2nd international poetry festival, late autumn 2006. I was the manager for the second year in a row. For some reason I can’t remember we didn’t have any microphones. The Norwegian poet, Gunnar Wærness, had misunderstood his flight-information and missed his flight. The Swedish poets Anna Hallberg and Jörgen... »
READINGS COMING UP
Lichtungen
Graz, Austria - 30.11.2009
Icelandic
- Gæska: Fjallræða um samtímannGæska hefur sérstöðu. Í stað hefðbundinna sögupersóna og aristótelísks söguaga er hér sjónarspil hins flaumósa ímyndunarafls, eins og það birtist í meðförum afar spræks söguhöfundar, sem ryðst hér að miðju frásagnarinnar og gengur þar í fóstbræðralag við félagslega vitund sem heldur á lofti öflugri gagnrýni á Í […]
Swedish
- Barndomstolen - Ulf Karl Olov NilssonKritikerns egosentriska prolog eller Barndomstolen II: The Return of Barndomstolen Älskade Litlive-läsare, Det här är min andra kopia av Ulf Karl Olov Nilssons (UKONs) tionde diktsamling, Barndomstolen. Den är lika mycket värd som den första. Första kopian fick jag i födelsedagspresent från min fru. Jag blev jätteglad! Jag läste högt från den […]