A Manifesto Against Manifestos
Johnny Payne questions the idea of manifestos in poetry, preferring his own mantra: “Write poetry first with the ear, second with the eye, third with the mind.”
The Endless Vitality of "Ode to the West Wind"
Merion West arts editor Johnny Payne reflects on why Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” endures over the centuries as one of the finest works written in English.
Haunted by the Sonnet: Erica Reid’s “Ghost Man on Second”
“In [Erica] Reid’s Ghost Man on Second, the real ghost man floating through the pages is the sonnet.”