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The Ploughshares blog is published by Ploughshares, the award-winning literary magazine based at Emerson College in Boston. We aim to engage with the literary community and foster lively, but respectful, discussion through regularly updated news, guest posts, reviews, and fresh points of view. We encourage you to respond to posts in the comments, but please follow our Rules of Use.
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Tag Archives: poetry
How Can We Feed Our Creativity?
For songwriter Vienna Teng, the secret seems to lie in her variety of influences. While I combed through your fabulous feedback (!) on What Poetry Can Learn from Pop Music last month, I connected with Teng for my ongoing interview series, ”Hey Guys, Other People Read Too!“ … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged anne sexton, BIID, billy collins, Body Identity Integrity Disorder, carbon tax, christopher ricks, climate change, creole, Decoded, Facebook, Five-thirty-eight, folk, Frederick, Jay Z, Leo Lionni, michael pollan, Nate Silver, Paul Simon, performance, performer, play, poetry, pop, pop music, prose-poem, radiohead, samuel menashe, singer, So beautiful or so what, songwriter, sustainable enterprise, the best cigarette, the omnivore's dilemma, The Poetry Foundation, tori amos, Vienna Teng, viennateng.com
9 Comments
Why Poetry Can’t Find its Public
Hey Poets. I was in LA last month for music work, and I think I found something you dropped: The public. So—Maybe you weren’t sure when you lost it, but you seem pretty certain music stole it. Or film perhaps? … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged 19 kids and counting, advice, artistic, artists, audience, Beyonce, critique, Do Not Go Gentle, Duggar, Dylan Thomas, Grizzly Bear, heresy, Idiocracy, indie rock, innovation, integrity, Irreplaceable, LA, lessons, Los Angeles, Macklemore, Mikkel Eriksen, music, Ne-Yo, performance, poetry, pop music, public, publications, questions, Rolling Stone, Ryan Lewis, salary, Stargate, Tasha Golden, The Daily Show, thinktanks, Thrift Shop, Washington Post
46 Comments
Cookbooks, Compost Heaps, and Poetry Booby Traps: A Conversation with Poet and Pie-maker Kate Lebo
The first poetry anthology I owned was How to Eat A Poem: A Smorgasbord of Tasty and Delicious Poems for Young Readers. The title still gives me the giggles, though my amusement is perhaps more nuanced—as a kid, I delighted … Continue reading
The Myth of the Literary Cowboy, Part 5: Cowboy Poetry
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” I’ve heard this phrase uttered by a number of people—students, coworkers, friends, academics, random drunk party guests—anytime I mention one of the following: wearing comfortable stilettos, being a vegan Texan, or enjoying cowboy poetry. The juxtaposition … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged American Literature, Cowboy, poetry, Poetry Gatherings, Western Literature
4 Comments
What Do Taylor Swift and Faulkner Have in Common?
Um, the answer is this guy. Hey Writing World, meet Amos Heller: The much-loved, many-fanned bass player for Taylor Swift. (And, ahem, for Ellery.) I’m introducing you to him because—(#truth)—Amos’ literary prowess would put many of us to shame. When I first I got … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers, Reading
Tagged 50 Shades, A Farewell to Arms, Amos Heller, Asimov, Barbara Kingsolver, bass, Eliot, Faulkner, Fifty Shades, Graceland, Grammy, Haldeman, Herbert, Hidden America, interviews, Jules Verne, Light in August, Lincoln, Love Song of J. Alfred, music, musician, Nashville, Niven, Paul Simon, poetry, Pohl, sci-fi, science fiction, Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Shakespeare, Shel Silverstein, Taylor Swift, The Poisonwood Bible, tour, William Faulkner
7 Comments
Rayna James Wright! And Other Sacrilegious Comparisons
So I was catching up on my Nashville the other day—and by “catching up” I mean “watching the first thirteen episodes of Season 1 back-to-back on Hulu because I’ve had the flu, OKAY?!”—when it hit me: COUNTRY MUSIC AND POETRY HAVE A … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged country music, Friday Night Lights, James Wright, Nashville, NyQuil, poetry, puns, Robert Hass, technique, television, Toby Keith
1 Comment
How to Leave School (Without Leaving Your Writing Behind)
At the risk of sounding like a John Mayer song, I’ve never believed in the real world. Or rather, I’ve never believed in the non-real world, some supposed realm that acts as a cozy womb for practitioners of glorified hobbies, … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged advice, fiction, MFA programs, PhD programs, poetry, writing
4 Comments
Dead Poets on a Modern-day Road Trip
Last June, we were both newly mastered. Me, an MFA in writing. Her, as an RN, MSN, CPNP-PC, PHNL. And we were taking a Pacific Northwest road trip to celebrate. But first we had to leave Portland. And before that, … Continue reading
Why Are Readings So Awkward?
Hey Writing World. I love you. You’re brilliant. You make amazing things happen on a page. But you have NO IDEA what to do behind a microphone. And so many of your venues are grim! They make us forget that … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged audience, Ellery, fiction, nonfiction, performance, poetry, public speaking, Readings, resources
37 Comments
What I Want From Ploughshares: A List
Just about a week ago, I sent an email out to our email newsletter subscribers asking them: “What do you want from Ploughshares?” The response has been amazing. …So amazing that I’ve been spending the better part of the week … Continue reading
