A Poetics of “Radical Caring”

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Reviewing Ann Lauterbach’s new collection of poems, Under the Sign, Jo Ann Clark argues for a new poetics of “radical caring.”  The collection shows Lauterbach struggling with the demons of world where people grow increasingly alienated from one other: drone strikes, school shootings, environmental destruction. If, as the poet claims, “to make something is to care for it,” Clark suggests art-making as a way to claim authority as a viewer of—and participant in—difficult material, and poetry itself as an inoculation against indifference.


Dinah Fay is a poet, copywriter, and social media maven living in Brooklyn. She is the co-host of the Brick City Speaks reading series in Newark, where she is pursuing an MFA in writing from Rutgers University. More from this author →