A Seat at Solange’s Table A Seat at Solange’s Table
A poem inspired by her new album.
Oct 7, 2016 / Morgan Parker
A Poet Undone A Poet Undone
Poetry defeats poems. Beguiled by this decorous paradox, Ben Lerner’s The Hatred of Poetry evades the art’s difficulty and strangeness.
Sep 22, 2016 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella
A Part of Denise Riley’s Song A Part of Denise Riley’s Song
The shadow of ballad meter haunts Riley’s poems, which can never not be a sign of vitality.
Sep 20, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
‘Hot Sauce in Her Bag’: A Poem for Hillary Clinton ‘Hot Sauce in Her Bag’: A Poem for Hillary Clinton
Over the years, you can learn to appreciate slam poetry—much like Hillary Clinton.
Aug 19, 2016 / Khalid Rahmaan
What Breeds in ‘Standing Water’ What Breeds in ‘Standing Water’
Eleanor Chai’s poems require delving below the surface of each compact, enjambment-packed stanza, forcing the reader through a process of discovery not unlike Chai’s own origin sto...
Jul 29, 2016 / Larissa Pham
How Poems Think How Poems Think
The power of lyric poetry lies in negation, not self-assertion.
Jun 6, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Letters From the May 23-30, 2016, Issue Letters From the May 23-30, 2016, Issue
Childbearing vs. child-rearing… Lost in translation?…
May 5, 2016 / Our Readers, Madeline Ostrander, and Cynthia Haven
The Need of the Forgotten The Need of the Forgotten
The novelist and poet Carmen Boullosa talks about her obsession with lost stories and found textual objects, and how rereading gives books new faces.
Apr 8, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Aaron Bady
Less Is Moore Less Is Moore
Observations is one of the great verbal works of art of the 20th century, in part because of Marianne Moore’s infectious devotion to everything small.
Mar 31, 2016 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach
Joseph Brodsky, Darker and Brighter Joseph Brodsky, Darker and Brighter
A spellbinding new biography rescues the poet from sentimentality and kitsch.
Mar 24, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Cynthia Haven