Category: Spectacular Poems
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“Poem Written Under a Pseudonym,” by Daniel Borzutzky
At last, the problem with American poetry is an American poet performing the part of his own poet-ness, and another poet he’s been plagiarizing from all this time, and another poet who likes grocery shopping more than poetry, and people who like reading poetry are like, “Is that a contradiction?” Then they go to a…
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“Endnotes,” by Coleman Edward Dues
What a challenge for poetry to communicate simultaneity. To enact “while,” like maybe “while” “will have been being” “while” another thing will have been happening “while” another thing and so on. I have been reading a series of very exciting poems by Coleman Edward Dues. Or more accurately I wish I could experience each of…
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“Poisonwell Diaries: Psalms of the Ossuary,” by Shanta Lee
Accretion is a helpful term reading a poem like Lee’s Poisonwell Diaries: Psalms of the Ossuary. Just to keep track of Lee’s body in this poem—it’s everywhere. Her body is being told what it is by someone who may or may not have a vested interest in understanding who she is. But their proximity to…
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“The Thrush,” by Pergentino José
What are the gods for a thrush? And what might happen to a thrush that it would renounce whoever these gods are? And is it all five gods? All twenty of them? And was it them being negligent or careless that opened the silence where the thrush could discover “small gems of truth”? All of…
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“in the chemo room, I wear mittens made of ice so I don’t lose my fingernails. But I took a risk today to write this down,” by Andrea Gibson
Andrea Gibson’s poem, “in the chemo room, I wear mittens made of ice…”, runs a countercurrent between hope and skepticism, like if the phrase “realistically speaking” could be inflated, so it wasn’t only registering the skepticism about any moment in life but also what life feels like when you’re really looking at the reality with…
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“Not on Geological Time,” by Felicia Zamora
Imagine a human body that was mimicking or participating or sympathetic to geological time. The all-time of earth. A human of the earth, born on earth, with biological processes that must be cognizant of earth. Not special among the earth. But special because the earth is present inside her. While she’s looking at a lake.…
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“Beauty, Gaze Unaverted,” by Anna Sandy-Elrod
I’m not really sure if “new lyric” is even a thing anymore. Like in 2013 I found out in 2008 people were trying to get a handle on that satisfying middle ground between lyric poem and personal essay, and I thought, this is where I want to be. I want to read poems that are…
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“Study of Two Figures (Pasiphäe / Sado),” by Monica Youn
What draws me into Monica Youn’s poem, “Study of Two Figures (Pasiphäe / Sado),” is the variety of “containers” fashioned in the poem. A container formed by the concept of race. A literal container each story’s main character has to fit themselves inside of. The poem itself as a container that juxtaposes two stories—stories that…
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“Narcissus,” by Jay Deshpand
Honestly, I’m not exactly sure what Jay Deshpande means in his poem, “Narcissus” (found in Iterant 10), when he’s explaining to the reader, “that field goes moon / and winsome.” Something about a field under the moon, something so calm, appealing. Like maybe an investigation into desire as impulse, and the nature of that impulse,…
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“The Remnant,” by Kwame Dawes
Kwame Dawes‘s poem, “The Remnant” (from Kenyon Review: Spring 2023) positions his reader in the horrible middle of the Anthropocene, or the horrible middle of life when you’re entering the Anthropocene. And I recognize there are many poets of his generation (Vievee Francis and Jorie Graham, among others) who are writing so directly into this…