The HyperTexts

Essays & Assays on Poetry, Literature, Religion, Human Rights, etc.

Here you'll find an ever-growing collection of essays, articles, interviews and various discussions on "things poetic," "thing literary," and other themes.  Please bookmark this page and visit it often, as we intend to re-ionize the ether with all sorts of fascinating opinions on our favorite topics . . .

Tom Merrill Interview with Michael R. Burch

"Poetic Meter in English: Roots and Possibilities," an essay by Richard Moore

"On Rhyme," an essay by Richard Moore

A book review of Tom Merrill's Facing the Remains, reviewed by Michael R. Burch

"Formal Poetry and Related Terms: Formalism, New Formalism, Neo-Formalism, Pseudo-Formalism, Neo-Classicism, Traditional Poetry, and the Multitudinous Variations Thereof," by Michael R. Burch

"Regarding the Great Poetic Divide," an essay by Tom Merrill

"This Is Not a Manifesto," an essay by Quincy R. Lehr

"Aints, Saints, Formalist Plaints," an essay by Michael R. Burch

Vera Ignatowitsch: A Critical Appreciation by THT editor Michael R. Burch

"The Effete Fascist," an essay by Michael R. Burch

"Erato, Speared" (the Essay)

"Erato, Speared" (the Poem)

"Erato, Speared" (the Response)

R. Nemo Hill, interviewed by Tom Merrill

Janet Kenny Interviewed by Michael R. Burch

John Whitworth Interviewed by Michael R. Burch

Russell Bittner's Interview with Michael R. Burch

"Drats, Rejected Again! (the Bias Against Formal Poetry)" an essay by Michael R. Burch

"Romanticism Then and Now," a Collection of Romantic Poetry from Caveman Days to the Present, with an Introduction by Michael R. Burch

"Romantic Poetry and Related Terms: Romanticism, New Romanticism, Neo-Romanticism, Post-Romanticism, Late Romanticism," by Michael R. Burch

"Can Poetry Matter?" an essay by Dana Gioia

"Hearing from Poetry's Audience," a follow-up to "Can Poetry Matter?" by Dana Gioia

"The Totems of Poetry," an essay by Dr. Joseph S. Salemi

Tom Merrill's and Michael R. Burch's Responses to Joseph Salemi's essay "The Totems of Poetry"

"The Mystique of the Difficult Poem," an essay by Steve Kowit

"What Poets Can Learn from Songwriters," an essay by David Alpaugh

"The Professionalization of Poetry," an essay by David Alpaugh

A response to "Poetry is Dead.  Does Anybody Really Care?" by Michael R. Burch

"A Simple Proof that Christians are Immortal," an essay by Michael R. Burch

"The Heretical Poets," an essay by Michael R. Burch

Infalli-BULL

"The Spiritual Sasquatch," a humorous essay by Michael R. Burch

THT's First Interview with Richard Moore

THT's Second Interview with Richard Moore

"How I Blew It At The New Yorker," an essay by Richard Moore

"A Life," an essay by Richard Moore

"Pain and Death," an essay by Richard Moore

Four Reviews of Richard Moore by Jan Schreiber

"The Best Poems Ever," an essay by Michael R. Burch

"Logic 101," an essay by Michael R. Burch

"Joe Salemi, Mike's Salami and the Christian Mother-Monster," an essay by Michael R. Burch

"The Puritan National Conscience," an essay by Joe Salemi

Interview of Michael R. Burch by Judy "Joy" Jones of On The Road With Judy

Jeffrey Woodward's essay on Amy Clampitt published by Umbrella

Jeffrey Woodward's "An Annotated Checklist of English Versification"

"'Fine, even beautiful,' just not for us," a brief piece about a poetry submission gone awry

The Journey to Unity," an essay by Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen

"The Self: A Consideration," an essay by Richard Moore

"I remember ..." an essay by Urmila Subbarao

A collection of essays by Jack Butler

Norman Ball Essays

"Are Women Underrepresented in the Small Press?" a dueling essay by Charles P. Ries and Ellaraine Lockie

"Thomas Stearns Eliot, an Early Re-assessment for the New Century," an essay by Joe Ruggier

"The Balancer:  Yeats and His Supernatural System," an essay by Richard Moore

"All Gay Today," an essay by Zyskandar Jaimot

Interview with Tony Marco

Links to essays by Elie Wiesel

What Really Makes Us Free

Are We Afraid Of Peace?

When Passion Is Dangerous

Have You Learned the Most Important Lesson of All?

The America I Love

How Can We Understand Their Hatred?

We Choose Honor

For more information about Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, click here.

Esther Cameron's Point & Circumference Homage to Paul Celan has a number of excellent essays

And here's a link to the excellent Norton Poets Online poetry page for Paul Celan (hint: read the poetry first!)

Esther Cameron personally recommends the University of Wisconsin's Paul Celan page

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by Bleu Copas, former Army Sergeant and Arab Linguist

A review of THT's Holocaust Poetry, by Esther Cameron

A Commentary on THT featured poet Nadia Anjuman by Laurel Johnson

A book review of Harvey Stanbrough's Beyond the Masks, reviewed by Freada Dillon

A book review of Tom Merrill's Outlaw's Retreat, reviewed by Laurel Johnson of Midwest Book Review

Russell Bittner's review of Peter Austin’s A Many-Splendored Thing

A book review of Emery Campbell's This Gardener's Impossible Dream, reviewed by Ethelene Dyer Jones

A book review of Joe Ruggier's Pope Caesar's Wake, reviewed by Laurel Johnson of Midwest Book Review

A website review of The HyperTexts, reviewed by Laurel Johnson of Midwest Book Review

A book review of the third revised edition of Joe Ruggier's This Eternal Hubbub, reviewed by Laurel Johnson

A book review of the third revised edition of Joe Ruggier's This Eternal Hubbub, reviewed by Mike Burch

A book review of the second edition of Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust, edited by Charles Adés Fishman, reviewed by Michael R. Burch.

A book review of Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust, reviewed by Laurel Johnson.

A book review of Richard Moore's Buttoned Into History, reviewed by Eleanor Goodman

A book review of Esther Cameron's The Consciousness of Earth, reviewed by CarrieAnn Thunnell

A book review of Esther Cameron's The Consciousness of Earth, reviewed by Michael R. Burch

A review of Joe Ruggier's "From Door-to-Door to CD-ROM" by Esther Cameron 

A review of Joe Ruggier's Songs of Gentlest Reflection, by Mary Rae

A review of Joe Ruggier's Songs of Gentlest Reflection, by Michael R. Burch

"I, Human," an essay by Esther Cameron with a brief introduction by Michael R. Burch

Interview with Esther Cameron (includes her essay "Synchronizing Our Watches: Thoughts Toward a Macropoetics")

The HyperTexts