theKalliope

Category: Spectacular Poems

  • “Elliptical,” by Kristen Steenbeeke

    Do you remember when every interesting poem was labeled “elliptical,” because it did this thing with juxtaposition or parataxis or dysjunction, and the subject matter or the poem’s voice was just spaced differently. And that made it more interesting. And God bless Stephanie Burt for setting those poems away from the LangPo and Narrative “in-fighting”…

  • “Logical Argument,” by Lisa Lewis

    “It happened” is the first thing you need to know reading Lisa Lewis’s poem, “Logical Argument” (from Annulet 6) What happened? It’s not clear. And it’s not even clear if “it” was the “logical argument” that’s standing at the top of the poem. Maybe “it” is something that happened, and now, following the “logical argument”…

  • “Summer,” by Celeste Pepitone-Nahas

    What can anyone say is contained in containers? In a plastic bag? In the image of a man who’s merely identified as a “composer”? In America? Like the whole country of America should be looked at as just a container. Like a backyard with statues in it. But if that’s the image associated with America,…

  • “Althea,” by Molly Ledbetter

    What would life would be like if you were in the middle of a Grateful Dead song. Or you were moving a lot, and you suddenly realized there’s a lot of life that passed, and you’ve been moving so much you may or may not have noticed that. And you’re doing an art of moving,…

  • “Central Oregon,” by Patty Nash

    I have to admit, I read Patty Nash‘s “Central Oregon” while I was reading Laynie Browne’s book, Translation of the Lilies Back Into Lists, so I was attuned to lists. I was aware that a list doesn’t just have to be items, but it can be playing with items. Like in Browne’s book, where the…

  • “When is the comet coming…?” by Rushing Pittman

    I’m not sure how familiar people are with that Stephen Crane poem (In the Desert) where the poet meets this creature in the desert. And it’s holding its heart “in his hands.” And it’s eating it. “It’s bitter.” The creature tells the poet. But bitterness isn’t the tone Crane is going for. This moment is…

  • “the night club,” by Nora Claire Miller

    The prose form in Nora Claire Miller’s poem is, for me, the key to its invention, or it’s what exaggerates the invention into the form. Everything is crowded, because prose can often do that to a poem. Make it crowded. Make the images feel more like a bunch of inflatable pool toys you’re trying to…

  • “debt ritual: sediment,” by Katie Naughton

    What I first notice in Katie Naughton’s poem, “debt ritual: sediment” (from FENCE 40) is its movement from line to line. What feels like watching a video of industrial machinery shifting an item to its next station. Each line, a shift. The next line, a shift. Not something severe, though. Something that’s assertive and muted.…

  • “Fools,” by Franklin K. R. Cline

    There are so many benefits to a title that’s brief in its statement. Is Franklin K. R. Cline saying, “Fools,” in a movie tone of voice. Like when Felonius Gru talks about something his minions did wrong, even with the best of intentions, and he says, “Fools.” Or is the grocery store where this poem…

  • “From ‘Long Life,’” by Lesle Lewis

    What always fascinates me about Lesle Lewis’s poems are their iteration. Like the poem is this activity we’re in the middle of with the poet. I’m in the moment with her as I read any given line, like her composition and my reading were simultaneous. Then the line ends, and I’m floating above the moment…