The Late-Great Hannah

Barry Hannah passed earlier this week. The literary world is aching. Hannah was a badass. We think that’s the best way to describe him. A motorcycle-riding, knife-wielding giant of American letters.

Two weeks ago we lamented the lack of regional distinction in recent literature. Hannah was the king of the Post-Modern South.

Here we are running an excerpt from an essay by novelist and critic Eric Miles Williamson as tribute to the late-great Hannah. — Brian Allen Carr

(more…)

Olde New England Towne

We know what it’s like to feel a seismic shift when reading groundbreakingly good poetry. And with all the talk of earthquakes lately, we thought now would be an opportune moment to consider some tremors of the literary variety. Before we get started, lets take stock and appreciate the movement of the earth and the geologic construction of words. Or as Edward Hitchhock says, “Shall not geology, which is the first science in affording scope for the imagination, be brought into favor with the Muses, and afford themes for the Poet?” Yes, Sir Ed, let’s be taken away with metaphors and metamorphic rock talk. Sifting the interwebs, we dug up this poem written about the 1653 New England earthquake…

(more…)