K is also for THE GREAT AMERICAN PINUP, a new addition to my favorite blogs. On to the Ells.

K is for Pantaloons: Tykes on Poetry. A visually and poetically sharp blog. Recommended reading.

My other J is Jill Jones' Ruby Street.I should read it more often than I do.

Raw garlic, radical politics, horse racing, tourism, knitted hats, Robert Duncan, Tsunamis, its ... Lisablog!. She has very few links to other blogs, but one of them is to Julia.

I don't read any blogs whose authors last names start with I.

The worst thing you can do is what I have just done: condescend to CG. He really hates that and will explain things to you with even more earnestness. NEVER engage in debate with CG. It is not that he will "win" the debate, but that he will drag you down to his level. He will win just be having you take him more seriously than he deserves.

I should point out that YOU, dear reader, are not Condescending Guy. If you recognize him in yourself you are wrong. In fact, you can take comfort in the thought that, however, much of a CG you are, I am probably much more of a CG than you could possibly dream of being.

Did you ever meet Condescending Guy? CG is an autodidact or someone who dropped out of a PhD program 20 years ago. (Condescending Gal is a different story; I have limited experience of her so I cannot comment at length.) Condescending Guy knows more than you about every possible subject--except that he doesn't. He has read some popular science books; he'll explain how Stephen Pinker has disproven feminism. He thinks there's something called "postmodernism." He will answer a profound question in a banal way. He might swear by Strunk & White! He'll patiently set you straight on any number of matters. If he is a poet, his own poetry is "carefully crafted" and he'll warn you against clichés. He revises every poem 100 times but it is still a piece of wood. He'll earnestly recommend a book by Robert Pinsky or Billy Collins to you. He'll tell you why bloggers don't match up to the New York Times Book Review.

On to the aitches, there is David Hess's irreplaceable, on-and-off-again Heathens in Heat. Recently quoting from a photocopy of Fits of Dawn supplied by Mr. Piombino.

Daniel Green, the relentless aestheticist, Drew Gardner, , who needs to post more often, Stuart Greenhouse, whom I need to read more often, Gabe Gudding, , the saintly one.

Steve Evans: Third Factory/Notes to Poetry. A relentless account of everything Steve reads. Steve reads a lot. Nobody in the "F" category of blogs. There will be quite a few in the Gees, like

Henry Gould. Henry likes to think of himself as neglected and out of synch with the other bloggers, so I try to avoid neglecting him whenever I can. Lately he's been posting music on another blog, for which I lack the requisite "plug-in."

Nada Gordon. "Her poems are full of bile, her clothes are not." That would be a great line for a villanelle:

"My poems are full of bile; my clothes are not.
This vintage fabric must not show its seams.
Clothes full of bile, what a horrible thought!"

You can write the rest yourself.

Nada is one of those larger-than-life bloggers in my imagination of her. I've been reading her blog for about as long as I've had my own.

On with the Ees: Conversational Reading by Scott Esposito is recommended reading. I checked out the Ben Yagoda book from the library that Scott recommended a few days ago. The concept was good, but the interviewees were relentlessly down-the-middle-of-the-road. I can take Dave Barry and Elmore Leonard, but Camille Paglia? Billy Collins? Cynthia Ozick? John Updike? He could have tried to interview Philip Lopate or Gil Sorrentino or Ron Padgett. It's not as though the writers he interviewed are all bad, but why Billy Collins? Why, why, why, why, why!!! Is this the prose-writer's idea of a poet? If so, we are doomed.

écritures bleues: at least one buyer of my unwritten book.

I almost forgot Eeksy-Peeksy, Malcolm Davidson's blog of eerily evocatived prose pieces. Malcolm has other blogs too, but eesky is the one I read most frequently.

On with my list of my 100 favorite blogging friends: E is for transdada. A fascinating poet, Kari Edwards blogs mostly about GLBT issues in this space. Basic issues of human rights that we should all be concerned about.
.

Introduction. What this book is for. Total dedication to poetry. Why there can be no "instruction manual." The myth of "talent."

Chapter I. The classic 20th century style, based on Imagism. Why I am not qualified to write this book (captatio benevolentiae!) Why children and polar bears can write good poetry. Pound's principles of "charging language with meaning." will still get you 90% of the way. Wyatt. Robert Herrick. Reverdy. Williams. Niedecker. Ceravolo. Coolidge. David Shapiro's translation of Ryokan. Silliman's Paradise. The avant-garde is the tradition.

Chapter II. Why the Russell Edson / Charles Simic approach is limiting. Pitfalls of a contemporary style based on prose models. Advantages and drawbacks of the contemporary period style. The translation trap.

Chapter III. Introducing the logos back into the mix. Oulipo procedures to make a "surrealist" poem by W.S Merwin interesting. Under-writing and over-writing. The "under-crafted poem" and the "over-crafted poem." Barbara Guest. Rae Armantrout.

Chapter IV. Melopoeia for the busy professional. Why "new formalism" is a fraud. Hearing the poem.

Chapter V. The process of writing. Listening to the interior babble. Pitfalls of revision. The Million Poems method. Only you can write your poems.

Chapter VI. Essential reading lists. Why you must read poetry without stopping. Did I mention total dedication? Why you must throw this book away after reading it. After all, poetry shouldn't have an instruction manual and I am not qualified to write one anyway.

Chapter VII. A brief anthology.