The Belly Tract #1

reviewed by Ryan Gleason

Originally published on February 1, 2012

This is my new column. It resembles the inside of my belly.

Impressions of Poetry on the Internet

by Ryan Gleason

Originally published on April 1, 2011

It’s the Internet! Poetry is the scripture in the temple!

Literature, The Northwest, and Me

by Ryan Gleason

Originally published on October 1, 2010

My finger drifts along the books’ spines. I insist on being casual, skimming through hundreds of alphabetized names and titles as though they were one relentless, underwhelming sentence.

Brenda Eisenberg

interviewed by Ryan Gleason

Originally published on July 1, 2010

This feels like an important story to write. For one thing, it offers a fresh angle on the apartheid story, through the eyes of a young orthodox Jew. But also, it looks at powerlessness in the face of a system you feel you can’t change and how young people turn to extreme solutions when they experience that impotence.

2666

reviewed by Ryan Gleason

Originally published on July 1, 2010

Roberto Bolaño’s final novel 2666, released posthumously, is a sprawling literary tome. It’s the kind of work that possesses a staggering amount of angles, gliding through time periods, characters, both widespread and intimate violence, sexuality, and Bolaño’s expertise, the imagining and dismantling of artists.