by Andy Brown | Apr 22, 2021 | Uncategorized
Two critical concepts are important to understanding Chinese poetry — feeling and scene. But those concepts didn’t spring spontaneously out of thin air. Pearl from the Dragon’s Mouth: Evocation of Feeling and Scene in Chinese Poetry by Cecile...
by Andy Brown | Apr 10, 2021 | Uncategorized
For the most part, I’m tired of reading traditional collections of lyric poems. I’m talking about the standard 64-112 page book that’s the bread-and-butter of most poetry publishers. These days, I’m drawn more to chapbooks, flash fiction,...
by Andy Brown | Apr 8, 2021 | Uncategorized
Of all the criticisms you could make of my work, the one I’m most sensitive to is “There’s nothing going on here. Nothing is happening.” When I was a young writer, I developed a lot of good writing habits. I learned not to censor myself. I...
by Andy Brown | Apr 7, 2021 | Uncategorized
I’m a fan of small books — novellas, chapbooks, anything that can be read in one sitting. Lazarillo de Tormes and El Buscón are two of my favorites and not just because they’re short. They’re also funny. In El Buscón the title character falls...
by Andy Brown | Apr 6, 2021 | Uncategorized
In the book Musashino in Tuscany: Japanese Overseas Travel Literature 1860-1912, Susanna Fessler identifies two central features of Japanese travel literature: 1) uta makura (codified poetic references) and 2) meisho (famous travel places). She writes: “Most...
by Andy Brown | Apr 5, 2021 | Uncategorized
Poetry Mode started as a Facebook page in 2017. I was tired of submitting poems to journals, then waiting weeks, months or, in one case, nearly two years to get a response, especially when the response was a rejection. Even when my poems were accepted, the wait...