Close reading can be irritating when it is someone ELSE's act of attention, and this person is more ponderous or pedantic, less attuned to the details that you might care about, insistent on the obvious--or overinvested in subtleties that leave you cold. Why do we always say of students that can't think abstractly, that can't develop ideas, that "they are good close readers"? This is rarely the case, in fact. I've used this ploy in book reviews myself when I can't think of anything else nice to say. it means the person can walk through the text and point out some fairly elemental things about it, not that there's anything truly outstanding about the reading.

I like Kasey Mohammed's description of Emily D's poems. I'm still thinking of a better name for this blog, Kasey. Be patient. "Mayhem" has been suggested. (too obvious!). "Ride Cymbal"?

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Stump the bloggers!!! Who wrote this little poem?:

"The heavy umbrellas
aren't worth their weight.
Doors swing and slam
checked by gusts. A whisperer
has a friendly reek.
A hell broth!
and hollows among clouds.
Then the moon goes crocus.