Category Archives: USA

Starting with Common Sense

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Books That Shaped America is a new 10-part series – a joint original feature production from C-SPAN and the Library of Congress – will trace America’s history by examining masterpieces in literature that have had, and still have today, a major … Continue reading →

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year

Posted on September 16, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

It is that time of year again when the leaves in the northern hemisphere change colors. As it does each Autumn, SmokyMountains.com has published their best guess as to when the leaves will be changing in various parts of the … Continue reading →

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You do not have to be good

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Dialing for poets

Posted on September 8, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I recall similar projects, but none as widespread as the Telepoem Booth. This  brilliant interactive project is built around installations made from vintage phone booths. Users simply dial a number and listen to poetry. Even if you are not able … Continue reading →

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As the poems go

Posted on September 6, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

As the Poems Go as the poems go into the thousands you realize that you’ve created very little. it comes down to the rain, the sunlight, the traffic, the nights and the days of the years, the faces. leaving this … Continue reading →

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Lou Reed meets Edgar Allan Poe

Posted on August 28, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I have long been a fan of the late great Lou Reed, but I only recently discovered that he created an updated version of the iconic poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. In 2003, he  set Poe’s most famous stories and … Continue reading →

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Take That Trip

Posted on August 27, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

It’s hard to believe that the inimitable Anthony Bourdain has been gone for five years. Unlike most folks, I discovered his writing through his first novel Bone in the Throat in the early 1990s and not via his culinary or … Continue reading →

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Utopia 14

Posted on August 26, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I was today years old when I learned that Kurt Vonnegut’s 1952 novel Player Piano was re-released in a paperback edition as Utopia 14 in 1954. Player Piano is the first novel by  Vonnegut, in it he depicts a dystopia of automation partly inspired by the author’s time … Continue reading →

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Diminished Galleries

Posted on August 25, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

DIMINISHED GALLERIES Keith Waldrop 1932-2023 too old for vision I must settle for dreams specific forms of cloud (body surrounded by body) every sensation con- ceals a dream fresco figurine sculpture in low relief (a motor halo a mental blue) … Continue reading →

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Do the Philly Crawl

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Dozens of indie bookshops in Philadelphia, Pa., are taking part this Saturday, August 26, in the first-ever Philly Bookstore Crawl, Philly Voice reported. The bookstore crawl will feature appearances from local authors, discounts, giveaways, and plenty of special activities. Iffy Books, for example, … Continue reading →

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