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AudioFrom VSDecember 2020
VS Season 4 wraps up with a whisper, a bang, a smile, and a hug from Naomi Shihab Nye! The legendary poet brings a fistful of sunshine to her conversation...
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Featured BloggerBy Taylor Johnson"there is no absolute, only / surface rise on top of rise" —Christopher Gilbert, “Blues/The Blue Case against the Lack Of” Not necessarily an urge, not immediacy, not definition as truth,...
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Prose from Poetry MagazineBy Tara Betts
The editors of this issue read thousands of poems submitted by people who have experienced incarceration...
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Prose from Poetry MagazineBy Sarah Ross
Artists incarcerated in prisons have frequently told me that making art was like encountering an unlocked door—
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Prose from Poetry MagazineBy Joshua Bennett
For those who are said to be and become nothing. Build nothing.
Podcasts
In this week’s episode, Bennett and Monson get into literary ancestors, Monson’s top 5 rappers of all time, and what the future of poetry in this country might look like (if we are brave enough to invest in our young people).
Monson spoke to us from the Michigan Department of Corrections in Freeland, Michigan. His poems are featured in “The Practice of Freedom” issue, which focuses on poetry and visual art produced by artists who have been directly affected by the criminal legal system. Joshua Bennett guest edited the issue alongside Tara Betts and Sarah Ross.
In Bennett words, “Justin Monson is one of the most courageous, original, daring poets working today. I first encountered his work three years ago, as a judge for PEN America’s Writing for Justice Fellowship, and was absolutely taken aback from the very first lines. The work shimmered. Monson has a fantastic ear, and a citational breadth that is truly a wonder to behold; it’s clear that he reads, and listens, to everything. Postcolonial theory, 90s hip-hop, erasure poetry. It’s all there. All of these traditions are part of the world Monson paints on the page, and is generous enough to share with us.”
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From Poetry Off the ShelfJanuary 2021
Hafizah Geter on shelves full of Black writers, forgiveness, and knowing your history.
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From The Poetry Magazine PodcastJanuary 2021
In this week’s episode, Cathy Park Hong and Lynn Xu talk about the startling directness of Korean poet Choi Seungja and the humbling experience of translation. The conversation ranges from...
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From Poem TalkJanuary 2021
Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Jake Marmer, Bonny Finberg, Julien Poirier.
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From The Poetry Magazine PodcastJanuary 2021
When we learned that poet Jackson Holbert asked to speak with John Darnielle for this episode, it made so much sense to us. Holbert’s poems in the magazine are simple...
Featured
Showcasing one of the most influential cultural movements of the last 50 years.
Featured Biographies
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author
Although she was an enslaved person, Phillis Wheatley Peters was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America. Educated and enslaved...
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author
Referred to as “one of America’s most original, influential, and productive of lyric poets,” Carl Phillips is the author of a dozen books of...
Poem Guides
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Poem GuideBy Robin Ekiss
Lucille Clifton celebrates self-discovery in “won’t you celebrate with me.”
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Poem GuideBy Austin Allen
When polite prejudice makes for scathing satire.
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Featured Poems
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By Thom Gunn
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By Liz Waldner
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By Robert Herrick
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By Susan Kinsolving
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By Laetitia Pilkington
