Gorman, the youngest poet to ever perform at a US presidential inauguration, moved audiences across the nation with her perspective on a country “striving to forge a union with purpose.”
Poetry
Did You Know That Robert Hershon Is a Major Poet?
I cannot think of another contemporary poet who is willing to expose his vulnerability, worry, and pettiness through the lens of humor.
Missives From the War to End All Wars
Elizabeth Gray’s poems seek to discover where we are in the midst of a battle we can never fully see.
This Be the Verse: Our Favorite Poetry Books of 2020
John Yau and Albert Mobilio select a few choice titles from the past year.
This Anthology of Trans Poetics Channels a Spirit of Dissent
We Want It All positions poetry as an everyday weapon, formidable against the cruel mundane.
Poems of Spiritual Quest and Musical Yearning
Joseph Donahue’s verse is rarely melodramatic, but rather humane and temperate, even when the insights are startling.
Poems About the Business of Being a Poet
Kent Johnson skewers the silliness of the swarming poetry world.
Collage and Poetry as Social Document
Rachel Blau DuPlessis’s work illuminates connections between poetic expression and public accountability.
Marcella Durand’s Apocalyptic Pastoral
Durand’s urban environment in The Prospect is a source not of solace but of anxiety.
Poetry in the Time of a Pandemic
Hank Lazer’s COVID19 SUTRAS amounts to a diary of what it is to be alive in the midst of a pandemic and a growing demand for racial justice.
Artist-Activist Yves B. Golden on Honoring the “Spirit of Black/Trans Resilience”
Golden’s work as an artist and organizer has always centered care to envision an equitable world.
How Words Cast Their Spell on a Poet
Geoffrey O’Brien explores language’s magic — part sound, part sense, part bodily sensation.