Archives for March 7, 2006

From Ciardi’s A Browser’s Dictionary (1980): Hip Mod. Slang (and prob. becoming passé). Aware, knowing, up on, in the know. [Earlier hep with the same senses, perhaps modified from the military usage for counting cadence, itself a modification of “left” as in hep-ri'-hep (because … [Read more...]

"Good Morning," he said, "this is John Ciardi prowling around your breakfast table and peering into your cereal bowl to find a whole cluster of words there." It was his introduction to one of the pieces he did on National Public Radio's Morning Edition in the 1980s. To hear the whole thing, go here … [Read more...]

He published 38 books, 12 of them for children, one a translation of Dante. He was a fine poet. Measurements I've zeroed an altimeter on the floor then raised it to a table and read three feet. Nothing but music knows what air is more precisely than this. I read on its face Sensitive Altimeter and … [Read more...]