Jeffery Bahr pointed out how Poets & Writers has snubbed me by having an article on literary writers who write about superheroes…but not a mention of “Female Comic Book Superheroes” or “Becoming the Villainess?” Honestly…
Feel free to start a letter-writing campaign on my behalf here (editor@pw.org) – let P&W know your outrage

Read Tony Hoagland’s new book of poetry essays, and really enjoyed his essay “Negative Capability: How to Talk Mean and Influence People.” I’m afraid I thoroughly agree with his assessment that meanness can elevate poetry and make it more incisive, witty, and less boring. Does this mean I’m a bad person? I was thinking about my favorite writers, and I’m afraid they all share a bit of this “mean” quality..all of Gluck, a lot of Atwood, Osamu Dazai, even that poem I love by Louis Simpson, “My Father in the Night Commanding No.” Eliot, HD, E.D.’s “Victory Comes Late,” ee cummings’ “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town,” Plath’s sense of humor, Haruki Murakami, Thomas Hardy, Ovid…Not a cuddly one in the bunch.

A belated thank-you to Kelli for calling this a thinking-blog. They may already have been nominated, but I nominate Jeffery Bahr (How else would I know what’s in Harper’s every month?) and Jessica Smith (always entertaining) and Ivy Alvarez and Kristy Bowen (both impressive thinkers) for these Thinking Blogger awards. Oh, and Mary Agner, for her great reviews of fiction and biographies and other books I might never read without her. Here’s the origin of the meme.