An Aural Dilemma Why is it sometimes so difficult to really listen to poetry, even at a poetry reading, or rather, especially at a poetry reading? Is it too difficult to hear a poem read aloud and come away with all of it, line by line? Is it the reader, or is it the poems? […]
Listening to Poetry Read More »
Here’s the third and final installment of the Poetry International sampler. It includes some of my favorites: “Sad Stories Told in Bars,” by William Matthews which originally appeared in Poetry International Nine; “Children,” by Julian Kornhauser, which originally appeared in Poetry International Ten; “The Women of Kismayo,” by Susan Rich, which originally appeared in Poetry
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Here’s the second installment from last year’s Poetry International sampler: “The War Works Hard,” by Dunya Mikhail which originally appeared Poetry International Five; “Mourning and Other Activities,” by Raza Ali Hasan, which originally appeared in Poetry International Six; “Tankas for Toraiwa,” by Seamus Heaney which originally appeared in Poetry International Seven/Eight; and “Homecoming: Anse La
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Last year we put together the Poetry International sampler, a selection of poems celebrating our first ten ten years of publishing poetry. Now we’re happy to publish those poems for you here. Here’s the first installment: “Prison Guards Silhouetted Against the Night Sky,” by Charles Simic which originally appeared in Poetry International One; “Walking in
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Digging in the Poetry International archives, Anthony Vasquez revisits and responds to the poems of Roberto Fernández Retamar, originally featured in “The New Poetry of Cuba” section from Poetry International VI. Enjoy. A Man And A Woman Roberto Fernández Retamar Who must there be? A man and a woman. –Tirso If a man and a
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We’re excited about the future release (near future, I promise) of Poetry International 12 for a number of reasons; not least amongst these is the inclusion of a special Lee Young Li chapbook. Here’s a preview of the issue with a response from Gabrielle Stephens followed. Standard Checklist for Amateur Mystics A lamp, so you
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This groundbreaking essay first appeared in Poetry International #3 in 1999. The issue is currently out of print–we only have one dogeared copy left in the office–so we decided to reprint the essay, and you can view it in its entirety as a separate post. By way of introduction, we’ve asked Renee Lorion to address
Responding to Steve Kowit’s “Mystique” Read More »
The Mystique of the Difficult Poem When I was about fifteen I fell in love with Hart Crane. The poems in White Buildings, The Bridge and Key West shimmered with the most fragile and delicate poignance. It was the very music of the soul’s anguish. As for Crane’s suicide, that was icing on the cake:
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