The inaugural poem — “Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration” — was read by its author, Elizabeth Alexander, a Yale University professor of African-American ...

For all its pomp and circumstance, Tuesday’s inaugural didn’t exactly set the world of words on fire. First, there was the address by President Barack Obama, which, while refreshingly tough-minded, ...

To dramatize both discovery and clarity in a poem is to write a Poetry of Poise. I wish we saw more of it. This is my theme for 2012. It's not so much that a Poetry of Poise is under attack from ...

There could not be a more fitting title for Jeanine Hatha­way’s new poetry collection than Long after Lauds. Lauds is a monastic morning prayer, and Hathaway was a Dominican nun for nine years ...

Editors note: Live Poetry Night in Aspen celebrated its second birthday in October. Lisa Max Zimet, who co-founded the poetry evenings and is the founder of aspenpoetsociety.com, sent us this ...

Leo recited the first poem. He was sipping whiskey, I was nursing a beer, and spirits seem a potion more conducive to declaiming verse. He was 75 years old that autumn evening; I was 34. I'd known him ...

In a world awash in tragedy, it’s easy to overlook the ordinary: the simple beauty of the everyday, the breeze that reminds us to inhale and exhale, the still moments that whisper, “Look. See. Live.” ...

Writing about wine can be complicated for many different reasons. Choosing the right word to describe how wonderful (or unique) a wine tastes or smells or all the other ways wine can stimulate our ...

In previous years, Slatehas paid ambivalent heed to National Poetry Month by publishing poems against poetry, or poems in which the poet disparages other people (and their poems), or poems expressing ...

WASHINGTON — With a measured and steady voice, Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander ’84 bookended President Barack Obama’s maiden presidential address on Tuesday with an inaugural message of her own — ...