Cool-looking authors No. 38

Geoff Johns, author of "Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (The New 52)" and numerous other comic book titles and also screenplays.

(Photo courtesy of DC Entertainment)

Sci-fi it's not

Rare is the young poet these days who doesn't dice our wired world into a baseline mirepoix.

— Dwight Garner, in his review of poet Michael Robbins' "Alien vs. Predator" in The New York Times, May 23, 2012

Referential

All around him, there are spies. 
Some of them are detached observers, 
like glass surfaces and still pools; 
others, such as coats in store windows, 
are prejudiced witnesses, lynchers at heart; 
others, again (running water, storms), 
are hysterical to the point of insanity, 
have a distorted opinion of him, 
and grotesquely misinterpret his actions. 
He must be always on his guard 
and devote every minute and 
module of life to the decoding 
of the undulation of things. 
The very air he exhales is 
indexed and filed away.

— Vladimir Nabokov, short story "Symbols and Signs," which I re-read after reading Lorrie Moore's short story "Referential" (New Yorker, May 28, 2012, issue)

Smooth Talker

Wendy's
the kind of girl
whose words
pour
as easy
as cupcake batter.

— Sheri Reynolds, "The Sweet In-Between"

Animated poetry

Billy Collins' TED talk, in which he shares animations made of some of his poems. The esteemed Mr. Collins.

Magnetic Poetry Blues

The grunge-meets-gospel
chorus is nice, but the rest
sounds like it was written
with a magnetic poetry kit
she had left over from the '90s.

— Melissa Maerz (Entertainment Weekly review of Alanis Morissette's new single, "Guardian," in May 25, 2012, issue)

Hair Ball

In Hong Kong,

Gaga rocked

a dress made

from the manes

of thousands of

My Little Ponies.

— From Rolling Stone's "Random Notes" feature (May 24, 2012 issue)

Faith

She could never
be a saint, but
she thought she
could be a martyr
if they killed her quick.

— Flannery O'Connor, "A Temple of the Holy Ghost" short story

Mermaid

Always swimming underwater,
the black waves of her hair
flowing behind her
like a school of eels.

— Junot Diaz, "Miss Lora" (short story in The New Yorker, April 23, 2012)

Seaside

Just because
a place is
on a body

of water
doesn't make
it a resort.

 — Sheri Reynolds, "The Sweet In-Between"