So Much Love of Death: A Crown of Violets by Renée Vivien
Translation always sacrifices something, and Pious, in her translations, has been consistent about the choice to cleave to some formal principles and lean away from others.
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Books
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An Arduous Reality: Testify by Simone John
Simone John’s first full-length collection of poems, Testify, is a remarkable exercise in documentary poetics.
Map-Making: Alex Dimitrov’s Together and By Ourselves
At one point, I write in my margin: There is no X marks the spot for treasure here. The map is the treasure. Which is another way of saying: this book is the bounty; these poems are the gold.
The Violence of Lost Time: Planetary Noise: Selected Poetry of Erin Mouré
Translating, in its widest meaning, is an attempt to accomplish what having a passport gives us permission to undertake.
The Way That Poetry Works: Holdfast by Christian Anton Gerard
In his searing, soulful second collection, Gerard uses the language that is poetry to invite the reader in to the experience of his darkest and brightest moments.
Both Presence and Absence: Safia Elhillo’s The January Children
The book, in the end, is shot through with a faith in human communion despite immense communal and individual loss.
On Joy: Three Poetry Anthologies
With impermanence and “praise for the devil” all around, it’s a gift to rediscover joy, no matter how fleeting.
Barbara Berman’s 2017 Holiday Poetry Shout-Out
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Barbara Berman offers gift recommendations for the poets on your holiday shopping list.
Yes, and: Simulacra by Airea D. Matthews
Matthews is a poet of multivalent ways and hows, an artist at home in the riddle of refusal.
A Book of Absences: Jehanne Dubrow’s Dots & Dashes
[W]hat’s so startling about these poems is how Dubrow spends her poetic energies grappling with the classical treatments of the past to thrilling and unexpected effects.
A New Understanding of Experience: David Biespiel’s The Education of a Young Poet
This book will make you appreciate poetry more. And if you’re a poet, it will make you proud to be one.
The Dangers of the Earth’s Extremes: Jessica Goodfellow’s Whiteout
The poems in Whiteout pull together an array of topics and well-developed craft, making it a complex book emotionally, thematically, and technically.