Gerald Stern on the winners of the 2013 Raynes Poetry Competition
I like—very much—Goldman’s poem, “At The Cubby Hole Bar,” because it addresses the subject—the American Dream—indirectly and as a poem, with all the ambiguity and metaphor you could—and should—find...
View ArticleHeather Altfeld wins Second Prize in 2013 Raynes Poetry Competition
Heather Altfeld American Taxidermy There was a certain order to things then, and it went just about like this. Dream, chase, capture. Kill, biopsy, study. Taxidermy, diorama, memory. Drink, cry,...
View ArticleCathleen Cohen wins Second Prize in 2013 Raynes Poetry Competition
Cathleen Cohen Equations For my students Karim won't read equations, just tears pages in his binder. He is angry at God, who has grown incomprehensible, striking trees, drying rains before they reach...
View ArticleJewish Currents announces winners of First Annual Alexander and Dora Raynes...
Gerald Stern selects three prizewinners from 700 entries on the theme “The American Dream” The winning poets and eight finalists will read their work on April 30 at The Actor’s Temple, NYC Follow the...
View ArticlePoets and Poetry Lovers Gathered April 30 to Explore “The American Dream”
“What does it mean to be American? What does it mean to dream? Is there a way to dream in a uniquely American way? Is there a way to be an American in a uniquely Jewish way?” –Gretchen Primack,…The...
View ArticleMay 14: Stanley Kunitz
Two-time U.S. poet laureate Stanley Kunitz died at 100 on this date in 2006. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard in the late 1920s, served in the armed forces as a...
View ArticleFrom Mudville to Putzville: Kessler at the Bat
On the 125th anniversary of the publication of Ernest Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat” in the San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 1888. by Mikhail Horowitz (music: “Take Me Out . . .”) It looked, well, all...
View ArticleJune 15: Adah Menken, the First Glamour Girl
Actress, painter, and poet Adah Isaacs Menken, who scandalized audiences in the 1860s by appearing onstage in the role of a man, wearing a flesh-colored body stocking and riding a horse on a ramp...
View ArticleJuly 3: Declining the Honor
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Adrienne Rich declined to accept the National Medal of the Arts on this date in 1997, in a letter to Jane Alexander, head of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Over the...
View ArticleJuly 6: Kenneth Koch
The exuberant and funny poet Kenneth Koch (“coke”) died at 77 on this date in 2002. A poet from an early age, he studied with Delmore Schwartz at Harvard in the late 1940s, following extensive military...
View ArticleAugust 4: The Muse of the Russian Avant-Garde
Lilya Brik (Kagan), who became lovers with the great Russian futurist poet Vladimir Mayakofsky while living in an open marriage with her husband, writer Osip Brik, ended her life at age 87 on this date...
View ArticleVacation Time: Sun-and-Sand Days
by Lawrence Bush from “Jewish Currents at the Beach,” 2010 Summer Supplement I live in the mountains, far from the pavement, far from the fashions, the crowd, the moment. There’s nothing I lack,...
View ArticleSecond Annual Raynes Poetry Contest on the Theme, “Union”
The post Second Annual Raynes Poetry Contest on the Theme, “Union” appeared first on Jewish Currents.
View ArticleSeptember 13: Penina Moise
Penina Moise, author of Fancy’s Sketch Book, the first book published (1833) by a Jewish American woman, died at 83 in Charleston, South Carolina on this date in 1880. Moise was the daughter of a...
View ArticleAnother Successful Year
by Lawrence Bush Another successful year hiding from God (Motherfucking God) behind this poem behind my newspaper behind that large slice of chocolate cake which I intend to purchase and eat and digest...
View ArticleNew at Our YouTube Channel: “Gratitude”
Esther Cohen and Matthew Septimus create a new, collaborative Jewish New Year card every year. This year, their card inspired me to create a short video, using Matthew’s photograph (of Norway) and...
View ArticleOctober 21: Louise Glück
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Louise Glück became America’s Poet Laureate, succeeding Billy Collins, on this date in 2003. Former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Glück was born in New York...
View ArticleNovember 27: Dahlia Ravikovitch
Winner of both the Israel Prize and the Bialik Prize, among many other honors, Israeli poet Dahlia Ravikovitch, the only widely recognized woman poet writing in Hebrew in the 1950s, was born in Ramat...
View ArticleUNION: Our Poetry Contest Theme
by Lawrence Bush “American works best when we say UNION YES!” says the AFL-CIO. “The Battle of the Wilderness marked the first stage of a major UNION offensive toward the Confederate capital of...
View ArticleOur Second Annual Poetry Contest
Our second annual poetry is now accepting submissions! Look below for instructions, and click on the green “$18″ button to pay your submission fee of $18. Questions? E-mail...
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