Slamming into Christmas

Gwarlingo always has such talented picks for its Sunday Poem, and this week's selection of  two poems by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is no exception. Aptowicz is big on the slam scene in New York, a fact which at first made me wary of reading her work. But her storytelling is wise and ironic at the same time. Enjoy these two seasonal poems.

Issa and Hass

Gwarlingo's "The Sunday Poem" is always a treat, but this week it features a video of Robert Hass reading haiku by Issa, which Hass translated. The video focuses on the humorous aspects of Issa's haiku, and is a real pick-me-up in 2 1/2 minutes.

Gwarlingo also includes a brief biography of Hass, a favorite poet of mine, and of Issa. I didn't realize how little I knew about Issa till I read this info at this site. For example, I didn't realize that he had disputes with his biological and step families, nor that he had written over 20,000 haiku, with over 200 about fireflies and 90 about cicadas, and many more about other small beings inhabiting our planet.

Ruefle's New Erasure Online

Gwarlingo has published Mary Ruefle's new erasure, Melody: The Story of a Child, online here. In full. Don't miss it. Hauting and droll as ever, her erasures are.


Read about Mary Ruefle in particular and erasure in general at Gwarlingo here.