Adriana Ramírez: What does it mean to be a poet in the face of violence?
On Black Bodies, Metaphor, and Mourning . What roles does poetry play in response to violence? Can poets write about racialized violence without reinscribing it on others? –Susan B. A. … Continue reading
George Monbiot: Primal Thrill
Kayaking with basking sharks provides a glimpse of the wonders we could experience if our seas are rewilded. I believe we possess a ghost psyche: a set of capacities that … Continue reading
Patricia A. Nugent: Only a Nazi Should be Called a Nazi
Drumming nervously on the steering wheel, I begin to mutter to myself. “C’mon, Renee. You told me 7:45, right? Actually, you demanded I pick you up precisely at 7:45. Well, … Continue reading
Video: Facing Evil with Maya Angelou
. In this video recorded shortly after Maya Angelou’s death in 2014, Bill Moyers remembers a conference on “Facing Evil,” held in the Hill Country of central Texas. Evil was … Continue reading
Michael Simms: Muse
As a musician, he was solid and reliable, but unimaginative. His chief talent lay in being in the right band. He enjoyed drinking and taking drugs, still in the initial … Continue reading
Eva-Maria Simms: To be lovestruck, not colorblind
In his Foreword to Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Cornel West challenges the idea of colorblindness as the driving force for … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: Notes on the beginning of a revolution
I had a nightmare last night. Smoke in my house. I’m confused, afraid. I finally find a glow in my basement. I never did see the flames. I call 9-1-1. … Continue reading
Nina Pick: Radical Orthography
Taking off the Caps Lock It came to me in a dream: Trump with a lower case t. It appeared in a flash as an ingenious solution, a subtle yet … Continue reading
Emily De Ferrari: In the Belly
1. In Aliquippa The mill loomed large and after dark, nightmarishly glowing red on the river road we would take before I was five to my grandmother’s sweet, warm and yeasty … Continue reading
Gerald Fleming: To My Student Kenny, Before the Inauguration of Donald Trump
Who will speak these days, if not I, if not you? —Muriel Rukeyser . November 9, 2016 Mr. Fleming, I can’t believe what happened last night. I am shocked, … Continue reading
Greg Thielen: Really… There is Hope
As our country’s day of mourning approaches on January 20th and, even though each day brings more troublesome news regarding his dealings, I am not so much concerned about the … Continue reading
Noam Chomsky: Why People Love To Talk About Sports
When I’m driving, I sometimes turn on the radio and I find very often that what I’m listening to is a discussion of sports. These are telephone conversations. People call … Continue reading
Pablo Neruda: Poetry is Rebellion
I have never known how to be eloquent in my appreciation. The world’s magnitude, knowledge, acknowledgement, the joy of a gift received, smooth as a comet’s passing, all this and … Continue reading
Michael Simms: The Very American Poetry of Jose Padua
What are poets for in destitute times? — Hölderlin . Every poem is a subversive act. In an age when our senses are benumbed by competing media screaming for our … Continue reading
