An Interview with Youna Kwak
You took graduate degrees in both creative writing and French. Do these passions intersect? One passion, myriad forms: theory, poetry, …
Poetry
Robin Robertson’s “The Fishermen’s Farewell”
After several weeks of quiet, Robertson’s poem is just the place for the PACK to rile again. I hope everyone had …
FL: Timothy Donnelly’s “Monastic”
The ruined cathedral wept into my flesh because I held nothing within me with warmth enough to deflect it. …
FL: Mark Strand’s “Nostalgia”
The professors of English have taken their gowns to the laundry, have taken themselves to the fields. Dreams of …
Michelle Boisseau’s “Among the Gorgons”
Michelle Boisseau’s “Among the Gorgons” is another powerful piece from the first issue of Poetry‘s centennial year. There’s something specially …
POTM: Catullus’ [75]
[75] Reason blinded by sin, Lesbia, a mind drowned in its own devotion: come clothed in your excellences— I cannot …
Amy Beeder’s “Dear Drought”
I’m not sure whether it’s my ear or my thwarted Romantic that’s more provoked by Amy Beeder’s “Dear Drought.” The …
Janice Greenwood’s “Tempest”
Between their production of quality chapbooks and verse/schematic/collage mixtures in their webzine, Ander Monson and staff at DIAGRAM/NMP continue to …
Emily Wolahan’s “Argument in Optative”
It was the grammarian in me that was first magnetized by Wolahan’s “Argument in Optative.” It is the poem itself …
FL: James Wright’s “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio”
In the Shreve High football stadium, I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville, And gray faces of …
William Wenthe’s “Bitter Lake”
In recent months, only Malachi Black’s LAUDS has struck me with as much force as William Wenthe’s “Bitter Lake”; patency of image …
Academic Confessionalism
Stephanie Rose Adams and I recently concluded that strands connecting every bit of especially bad verse—take nearly all the poems …
Greg Nicholl’s “Errors in Cross Circulation”
Again, a piece that occupies a quizzical niche: Nicholl’s “Errors in Cross Circulation,” featured in the summer issue of Salamander, …
