Diagram This: On Adrienne Rich Diagram This: On Adrienne Rich
A new collection of Adrienne Rich’s poems does not show her at her best.
Jan 30, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Lucia Perillo’s On the Spectrum of Possible Deaths.
Jan 16, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Burt
Resistance Through Poetry Resistance Through Poetry
It’s how I came to understand that the world—and all oppression—is connected.
Jan 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Staceyann Chin
Irritable Reachings: On John Keats Irritable Reachings: On John Keats
A new biography of John Keats is no match for Keats’s poetic inventions.
Jan 9, 2013 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach
Rhyme Is All I’ve Got: A Q&A With Calvin Trillin Rhyme Is All I’ve Got: A Q&A With Calvin Trillin
How do you rhyme “Obama” with “Yokahama”?
Dec 17, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener
Writing Without a Mattress: On Louise Glück Writing Without a Mattress: On Louise Glück
Louise Glück’s poems aim to get to the bottom of her experience without making an idol of “reality” or brute suffering.
Nov 20, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Robert Boyers
The Unconquered Flame: On Robert Duncan The Unconquered Flame: On Robert Duncan
A new biography shows how the poet Robert Duncan fed a line backward into the labyrinthine history of human imagination.
Sep 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
The Poetry of America’s Best and the Brightest The Poetry of America’s Best and the Brightest
The students at Bunker Hill Community College may have difficult lives. But the best are as bright as any Ivy Leaguer.
Sep 5, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Wick Sloane
‘Poem about My Rights’: Todd Akin, Meet June Jordan ‘Poem about My Rights’: Todd Akin, Meet June Jordan
Todd Akin, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan all have me thinking of June Jordan’s great “Poem about My Rights.”
Aug 22, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Laura Flanders
The Reaches of Stringency: On Philip Larkin The Reaches of Stringency: On Philip Larkin
Self-congratulation, deceptions and the art of failure.
Aug 8, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Michael Wood