Recent Articles
Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast : More Than Meets the Eye
Last night a friend and I watched Jean Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) for the very first time. Luckily, we were able to see the restored version of this French masterpiece on the big screen. It is hard to remember just how radical [...]
The Sunday Poem : Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz with poet Taylor Mali at the WordXWord Festival in Massachusetts Thanks to all of the readers who have contributed to the Gwarlingo Membership Drive. Just over $4000 of the $15,000 goal has been raised in the first three days, which has exceeded my expectations. [...]
Gwarlingo “Sells Out”…To You
(Photo taken in Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, DK. by Zephyrance via Flickr Commons) You're curious. Open-minded. Creative. You're an artist or arts lover who isn't afraid to be challenged. Gwarlingo, like the arts in general, is about seeing the world in a way we've never seen before. Whether it's [...]
The Sunday Poem : Caitlin Doyle
Poet Caitlin Doyle (Photo by Mike Robinson) Rhyme is tricky business for a contemporary poet. In an environment where free-verse dominates, how can a writer make a traditional technique like rhyme meaningful and innovative, and not simply a hollow, reactionary gesture against the status-quo? Poet Caitlin Doyle [...]
What is Love? Joan Wickersham’s The News from Spain Has Some Surprising Answers
Joan Wickersham (Photo by Nicholas Latimer) “A story . . . can become close, airless. You cannot stay shut up in your own head anymore; you need a break, some fresh air. Let’s go outside: We’ll take a walk, down a New York City side street. It’s [...]
The Sunday Poem : W.S. Merwin & the Debut of the Sunday Poem Index
Poet W.S. Merwin I want to wish you and your loved ones a belated Happy Thanksgiving this Sunday. This holiday I'm exceedingly grateful to you for reading Gwarlingo and to all of the artists and poets who have contributed work to the site. In gratitude I have [...]
The Sunday Poem : Anzhelina Polonskaya, Translated by Andrew Wachtel
Anzhelina Polonskaya I first met Russian poet Anzhelina Polonskaya several years ago at the MacDowell Colony, where many of the poems in her new collection, Paul Klee’s Boat, were written. While in New Hampshire, Anzhelina graciously offered to share her work at a local poetry event. She [...]
A Line Made By Flooding – Artist Eve Mosher: “I Never Wanted to Be Right”
In 2007 artist Eve S. Mosher used beacons and chalk to mark the projected high water line in Brooklyn and Manhattan. (Battery Park photo by Hose Cedeno courtesy highwaterline.org) Artist Eve Mosher in 2007 (Photo courtesy highwaterline.org) "I never wanted this to be [...]
The Sunday Poem : Bruce Snider
Poet Bruce Snider Bruce Snider's latest poetry collection, Paradise, Indiana, is a book steeped in place, from Midwestern farms, to taxidermy conventions, to interstates dotted with roadkill, to the Pick 'N Save, where the narrator's grandmother shoplifts. Reading the collection sequentially, a moving narrative unfolds about adolescent love and [...]
Ford as Fonzie, Carter as Christ: A Look at Presidential Posters of Years Past
A 1968 poster parodying the Nixon campaign's motto, "Nixon's the one!" (Courtesy the Library of Congress) Election Day is finally here, and I thought it would be fun to explore some of the campaign posters from past presidential elections. All of the posters featured here are in [...]
The Sunday Poem : Martha Collins
Poet Martha Collins (Photo by Doug Macomber) As a five-year-old boy, Martha Collins' father sold fruit in front of the Blue Front Restaurant in Cairo, Illinois. One November day in 1909, he was lifted onto a relative's shoulders to watch a bloodthirsty mob of 10,000 people kill [...]
Chuck Close, Alice Munro, & Jack White on Creativity & Constraint
"I can remember very well writing 'Thanks for the Ride' because my first baby was lying in the crib beside me...I was twenty-two."(Photo: Alice Munro by Derek Shapton) The Challenges of Motherhood Alice Ann Laidlaw was born in the rural town of Wingham, Ontario, the daughter of a [...]
The Sunday Poem : James Arthur
Poet James Arthur (Photo by Sean Hill) "That feeling of becoming a new person in a different place, even if it's an illusion, is intoxicating to me, and always has been," says poet James Arthur. "I love writing about places, but only places where I don't belong." James's [...]
192 Pieces of Music for 192 Countries in 192 Days in Honor of the United Nations
This drawing may look like a maze or an artist's sketch, but it's actually a musical score created by Emmy-award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg. A few years ago pianist Teresa McCollough received a surprise gift in the mail from Heitzeg: 192 scores titled World Piece. Each score was named for [...]
The Sunday Poem : Bruce A. Jacobs
Bruce A. Jacobs The Sunday Poem is back! Apologies to readers who missed the poem in their inbox last weekend. I appreciate your emails and messages. It's good to know that the series has become such an integral part of your weekend and that you genuinely look [...]