Don’t just be yourself — build your personal brand. The self is unstable. It might not be found by the search engines. It might be rejected. The self regenerates every five or six days. A consistent brand, a coherent self. Consider the interface, testing for usability. Even crows have a sense of self, and the accompanying self esteem, self loathing. The crow is self-reflexive, self-defeating. How dejected is the crow.

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This Friday through Sunday, over 80 poets will participate in a weekend-long poetry reading in Boston. Each poet has eight minutes of reading time. The participants range from the up-and-coming to the well established. Such an ambitious and impressive event promises to send thousands of words into the heads of thousands of poetry enthusiasts.

This is one of those events that makes having a private plane seem like an imperative life holding. Strictly for purposes of attending far-off readings, of course…

But if you’re in the area, definitely stop by, for eight minutes or eighty, and enjoy some of Boston’s best poetry voices.

Dark Sky Books author Ben Mazer is scheduled to read on Sunday afternoon. And next week’s featured poet, Elisa Gabbert, takes the stage Friday night.

Check out the rest of the line-up after the jump. And visit the Boston Poet Tea Party for venue information and contacts.

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