● Singing School: Learning To Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying With the Masters By Robert Pinsky W.W. Norton & Company, 240 page, $25.95 In approaching Robert Pinsky’s new book on how to write poetry, unsuspecting students may be eager for trade secrets, but it will shortly dawn on them that Pinsky has a different…
Recently, blind Israeli poet Erez Bitton — who reportedly lost his sight at the age of 10 when he found a hand grenade — approached noted translator Tsipi Keller about the possibility of translating some of his work. Among the works was the poem “Assad’s Catarat.” The poem takes as its starting point the fact…
The American Jewish poet John Hollander died on August 17 at age 83. At a 1990s New York literary gathering, I praised his translation of a poem by Jorge Luis Borges, “The Golem.”. Hollander demurred modestly, not adding as he did to the poet Edwin Honig in 1985: “My mother’s family traditionally believes that my…
Poet, publisher and bookstore maven Lawrence Ferlinghetti is, at 94, arguably the most popular living versifier, or at least author of the single most popular book of poetry — the million-selling “A Coney Island of the Mind” (1957). It’s a distinction he carries lightly in Christopher Felver’s new documentary “Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder.” The…
A chilly rain was no obstacle for the crowd that poured into the Museum of Modern Art on January 29 for a sneak-preview screening of Neil Barsky’s cleverly crafted documentary about former New York City mayor Edward Koch, who died of congestive heart failure just three days later. Guests included a slew of mayoral candidates:…
The death of Ed Koch reminded us that in our archives we have a couple of poems about the mayor by the late, great poet of the Forward, Stanley Siegelman. These are too charming not to share again, so without further ado, we offer a special reissue of Siegelmania’s greatest Koch hits. Ed Koch’s Grave…
How do we say goodbye to such a year? When we cheered, we voted, we shed a tear. A race for president, a quest for gold, A hurricane that ravaged young and old. Here at the Forward, our yearly review Of Jews in the news in two-oh-one-two Starts with the man who tried to stack…
In the annual Forward Fives selection we celebrate the year’s cultural output with a series of deliberately eclectic choices in music, performance, exhibitions, books and film. Here we present five of our favorite works of poetry of 2012. Feel free to argue with and add to our selections in the comments. This year, among the…
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