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Poet John Ashbery dies age 90

John Ashbery, American poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and many others, died on September 3 at age 90. He published over thirty books since 1970 ... [ read more ]

Best New Poet Nominations: Hunt & Macormic

Smartish Pace Editor Stephen Reichert nominated Laurel Hunt, and her poem "Glass," and D.M. Macormic, and his poem "Identity Theft," for Best New Poets 2017. SP nominations have won in ... [ read more ]

Jason Miller, Smartish Pace Reading

Jason Miller reading for Smartish Pace at the Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh on November 16, 2012.

Interview with Gary Fincke

Gary Fincke is the author of sixteen books of poetry and short fiction, and, in 2004, of Amp'd, a personal account of his son's life in the rock band Breaking Benjamin. He is a recipient of the Bess Hokin Prize for Poetry, the Rose Lefcowitz Prize from Poet Lore, a PEN Syndicated Fiction Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and many other honors and awards. His essay, "The Canals of Mars" was reprinted in The Pushcart Essays, an anthology of the best essays from the first twenty-five years of Pushcart Prize volumes. His most recent books include Sorry I Worried You (U. of Georgia Press), a collection of short stories, which won the Flannery O'Connor award, and Standing Around the Heart (U. of Arkansas Press), a collection of poems. He is the director of the Writer's Institute and Professor of English at Susquehanna University in Selsinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Smartish Pace has published Gary Fincke's poems in issues 5, 8, 10 and 13. He was interviewed in April by Dan Cryer, associate editor at Smartish Pace. Dan Cryer: You've managed to have success in poetry, fiction and non-fiction. ... [ read more ]

Alice Notley: Culture of One

Observing thoughts, as a Buddhist might, does not make art, although it might make a better person.   The narrator of Alice Notley’s Culture of One has realized this distinction between art and life.  She challenges herself concerning the poetic process underway: “Observe your thoughts: are they a poem? No” (94).  Abandoning that reflective lyric project, in the next line via the speaker continues another tactic, a narrative one:  “A long time ago ... [ read more ]