J. Townsend

J. Townsend has poems and essays published or forthcoming in Bombay Gin, The Cultural Society, Gam, Diagram, Fact-Simile, Wheelhouse, Volt, and Elective Affinities. With Nicholas DeBoer, he edits con/crescent press, a chapbook publisher and print magazine focused on discursive essay/creative nonfiction. He writes and performs with the New Philadelphia Poets and lives in East Kensington, Philadelphia.

By this author

Spiritual Man, Modern Man

A catalogue of poetics as community

Recently in Jacket2

Time is a flat circle

Ray Coyne

Capsule reviews

Philadelphia-based writer and organizer Ray Coyne reviews three poetry collections: So Tough by Jared Stanley, Go Figure by Rae Armantrout, and Upstage by Bruce Andrews and Sally Silvers.

So Tough, Jared Stanley (Saturnalia, 2024)

Runa Bandyopadhyay on Pitch of Poetry

Rhythm of Literary Derangement: Pursuit of Karma Yoga

Charles Bernstein

Bandyopadhyay and Bernstein in Mumbai, 2024, for launch of Pataquerical Ballad

Runa Bandyopadhyay recently published an extended review of Pitch of Poetry in Chhapakhanar Goli, 21st year issue, April 2024 (W. Bengal). For this page, she adapted and extended that review to create a new essay in English, published here for the first time. I am publishing it as part of my ongoing, transformative, collaboration with Runa, outlined in the links at the end.

Wolgamot & Me: In Memoriam Keith Waldrop

Charles Bernstein

Keith Waldrop discovered John Barton Wolgamot’s 1944 poem, IN SARA, MENCKEN, CHRIST AND BEETHOVEN THERE WERE MEN AND WOMEN while browsing in a bookshop, as he recounts here. The poem was to remain a touchstone for him both its poetic power but also as a icon of how quixotic our poetic achievement are.