Liza Dalby talks about the strange and beautiful customs of Japan's golden age, and the woman who immortalized them in a tale of the perfect man.

The lack of a poet at Bush's Inauguration is a bleak omen of his administration's attitude toward culture -- but then again, what poet would agree to appear?

Agree to our demands, say Korean trade negotiators, or you will be crushed like the invading armies of the Sui Dynasty

I didn't understand my dad's gripe with Will Smith's performance in "Ali" until I saw the new Tupac film

A passionate critic tosses a few firebombs at the New York theater.

Jack Cashill is obsessed with the president's college poetry and positive it proves his life is "one massive fraud"

Deference has never been automatically conferred to black women. The death of a regal light was no different

"Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge"

David Lehman made himself write a poem every day, and "The Daily Mirror" is the jazzy, joyful result.

Real and imaginary events of interest to readers.

Whitman understood something that America often tries to suppress: "Sex is the root of it all"

Palmer insists, against all odds, that she "unwittingly waltzed into" the Twitter fight

Think conservative objections to birth control are enshrined in the Bible? Think again

The two greatest poets of World War I despised the bloody, pointless conflict — yet fought bravely. But why?

Formerly LeRoi Jones, the civil rights leader inspired a generation of slam poets, playwrights and musicians