A Quintessential Quarantine Read: Paige Lewis’s Space Struck
Narratives, reflections—“bright particulars,” every one.
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Reclaiming History from the Bigots: Jill Lepore’s This America
History itself is not so conveniently tidy, and neither is this book.
The Authentic Self: I Live in the Country & other dirty poems by Arielle Greenberg
Every poem in I Live in the Country sells what it’s craving.
Girl Power: Quan Barry’s We Ride Upon Sticks
But this is We Ride Upon Sticks: someone’s perm falls out, someone becomes prom queen.
Gospel That Kicks Up the Dust: Neck of the Woods by Amy Woolard
Tenderness lies between the sharp and the sweet.
What Is (and Isn’t) Held in the Light: Diane Zinna’s The All-Night Sun
Trauma’s wing conceals and reveals.
Homage as Provocation: Karen Tei Yamashita’s Sansei and Sensibility
Pretend you are Austen. Enact an Austen novel. And what will happen?
A Deeper Narrative: Tongo Eisen-Martin’s Heaven Is All Goodbyes
These are not poems to read quickly, but to return to repeatedly.
The Complications of #MeToo: Mary Gaitskill’s This Is Pleasure
Quin, too, must make sense of his behavior and the consequences.
What Could Be: All Its Charms by Keetje Kuipers
The decision to have a child is fraught at the best of times.
What We Eventually Forget: Bernadette Mayer’s Memory
I surprised myself by reading Memory in an afternoon.
Rites of Passage: Steven Toussaint’s Lay Studies
We are liturgical animals, Toussaint’s poems suggest, designed to satisfy some ultimate desire with worship.