Remember, Poetry Book Club Members–the chat with Aimee Nezhukumatathil about her book Lucky Fish is Monday the 3rd at 9:00 p.m. EST, 6:00 p.m. PST. Check your email for the url and the password.
I knew, when I took the job as poetry editor two years ago, that I wanted to make sure we covered poetry in translation, and I’d be lying if I said I was pleased with our level of coverage. It’s hard to get people to write about poetry in translation. I suspect it’s because there’s a sense that one should be fluent in the original language when critiquing the translation, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Writing about the translation gives you the chance to talk about the translator as much as the original poet, and that’s someone who often gets neglected in the reviews of translated work.
Which is a long way of saying that if you want to pitch a review of some poetry in translation, drop me a line. I’m interested.
Speaking of which, this piece by Jen Hofer on translation as subversive speech is one of the more challenging pieces I’ve read in recent weeks. Her translation of Laura Solorzano’s Lip Wolf is fabulous.
Via We Who Are About to Die, the best writing exercises ever.
Dean Rader stakes a claim to San Francisco as the best poetry city in the country.
Elisa Gabbert begins a list of cultural clichès of the aughts.
Remember you can follow Rumpus Poetry on Twitter to keep up with all things poetic happening around here.
