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“Scientists say the average human/ life gets three months longer every year. / By this math, death will be optional,” reads Nicole Sealey from her poem “The First Person Who Will Live to Be One Hundred and Fifty Years Old Has Already Been Born,” which appears in her collection Ordinary Beast (Ecco, 2017), in this reading with Morgan Parker, author of Magical Negro (Tin House, 2019), at Scripps College.
In a world run by technology, now more than ever, it can be rewarding to unplug, go outside, and look to the natural scenery around you. In Louise Glück’s poem “Sunrise,” the narrator reflects on the still, beautiful landscape in the hills and the ways in which nature is always there, persisting, even through life’s ups and downs. “And if you missed a day, there was always the next, / and if you missed a year, it didn’t matter, / the hills weren’t going anywhere, / the thyme and rosemary kept coming back, / the sun kept rising, the bushes kept bearing fruit,” writes Glück. Write a poem inspired by the beauty and perpetuity of the natural world that surrounds you. Think about the simplicity of a blade of grass or a flower petal, and how every detail is a life of its own.
“Of the foreground, we will not speak. Look past the / blotted figures.” Jenny Xie reads “Red Puncta,” which appears in her second poetry collection, The Rupture Tense (Graywolf Press, 2022), in this video for the Nation’s Spring Poetry Reading, which also featured Golden and Donika Kelly, hosted by Kaveh Akbar. The Rupture Tense is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“This is what was bequeathed us: / This earth the beloved left / And, leaving, / Left to us.” In this virtual reading for the Dire Literary Series hosted by Timothy Gager, poet Gregory Orr reads from his latest collection, Selected Books of the Beloved (Copper Canyon Press, 2022), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
There are still two weeks left to submit to Puerto del Sol’s contest in poetry and prose! Offered annually for a single poem and one work of fiction or nonfiction, winners receive $1,000 and publication by the journal. All submissions will be considered for publication.
Using only the online submission system, submit up to three poems or 25 pages from one “self-contained” work of fiction or nonfiction with a $15 entry fee by September 2. The entry fee includes a copy of the latest issue of the journal. Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of the novel Woman of Light (One World, 2022), will judge in prose and Anthony Cody, author of the poetry collection Borderland Apocrypha (Omnidawn Publishing, 2022), will judge in poetry. Visit the online submission system for complete guidelines.
Published by the MFA candidates at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, Puerto del Sol is committed to providing “a forum for inventive and fresh prose, poetry, reviews, criticism, and artwork,” striving to showcase a mix of emerging and established writers. The journal values work “that presents authenticity, sincerity, and respect.”
Seven Kitchens has cultivated a diverse roster of writers through the fifteen or so chapbooks it publishes each year, including through its eight chapbook series, each appealing to a different community.
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books including The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li and Togetherness by Wo Chan.
A look at three new anthologies, including New Weathers: Poetics From the Naropa Archive, edited by Anne Waldman and Emma Gomis.
The new editor of Poetry shares his aspirations for shaping the 110-year-old magazine to reflect an expansive literary landscape.
In Jenny Xie’s poem “Memory Soldier,” which appears in her second collection, The Rupture Tense (Graywolf Press, 2022), the poet chronicles the life of Li Zhensheng, a photojournalist who documented the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. In the eight-page poem, Xie weaves back and forth from biographical information to spare descriptions of Zhensheng’s stark photographs, creating a rich reading experience that honors the life and work of the unflinching artist. “Li’s camera can capture distance in a face,” writes Xie. “It can materialize a person’s doubt, so transparent is his lens.” Write a poem in sections that considers the life and impact of an artist you admire. Whether through an essayistic prose form or lineated stanzas, how does the technique of accruing language inform your understanding of the chosen subject?
