Genre: Poetry

The Blaney Lecture: Paisley Rekdal

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“With regard to war, I can’t help being suspicious of the very reasons we turn to poetry at all,” reads Paisley Rekdal from “Beyond Empathy, Beyond the Archive: Notes on Poetic Representation” for the 2022 Blaney Lecture, an annual lecture on contemporary poetry and poetics created by the Academy of American Poets. “Is our desire one of representation, political change, or emotional catharsis? And is that political change meant to happen on the page, or off it?”

Aaiún Nin With Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah

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In this Astra House virtual event cohosted by Book Culture, Aaiún Nin speaks about their debut poetry collection, Broken Halves of a Milky Sun (Astra House, 2022), with Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, author of The Sex Lives of African Women: Self-Discovery, Freedom, and Healing (Astra House, 2022). Nin’s book is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

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A Turn of Phrase

“Poets are supposed to avoid clichés—bits of language so hackneyed as to seem drained of meaning—but I’m fascinated by what hyper-familiar turns of phrase can reveal and conceal,” writes Hannah Aizenman about her poem “As a Father of Daughters,” published in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. The poem uses the phrase in the title as a jumping-off point for a seemingly associative list that hinges on the levity of rhyme and continues to reveal more about the original phrase. “As a failure of rathers / As a faithful support / As we gather together / As a fear of disorder,” writes Aizenman. Write a poem inspired by a common phrase or idiom that challenges its meaning. What will be revealed or concealed?

Rita Dove on Playlist for the Apocalypse

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“I still believe that we listen more closely to a whisper than to a shout.” In this PBS NewsHour interview with Jeffrey Brown, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Rita Dove speaks about history, rage, the power of poetry, and her latest collection, Playlist for the Apocalypse (Norton, 2021).

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Deadline Approaches for the NEA Creative Writing Fellowships

Submissions are open for the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships. Given in alternating years to prose writers and poets, in 2022 the NEA is accepting applications in poetry. Grantees will receive $25,000 each to “enable the recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement.” Writers who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S., and who have published a poetry collection of at least 48 pages, or 20 or more individual poems or pages of poetry over the last seven years are eligible to apply.

Using only the online submission system, submit a completed application, which includes a brief project description, seven to ten pages of poetry, and a list of publications, by March 10. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Through this fellowship program the NEA “seeks to sustain and nurture a diverse range of creative writers at various stages of their careers and to continue to expand the portfolio of American art.” Applicants can expect to receive a notification on the final status of their applications by December, at the earliest. Fellowship recipients will start to receive financial support for their literary projects between January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024, and may have this support extended for up to two years. Recent creative writing fellows include prose writers Steve Almond, Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello, Melissa Febos, Tope Folarin, Kelli Jo Ford, Shruti Swamy, and Laura van den Berg, and poets Threa Almontaser, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Leila Chatti, Oliver de la Paz, Diana Khoi Nguyen, and Valencia Robin. Through this fellowship program the NEA “seeks to sustain and nurture a diverse range of creative writers at various stages of their careers and to continue to expand the portfolio of American art.” Applicants can expect to receive a notification on the final status of their applications by December, at the earliest. Fellowship recipients will start to receive financial support for their literary projects between January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024, and may have this support extended for up to two years. Recent creative writing fellows include prose writers Steve Almond, Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello, Melissa Febos, Tope Folarin, Kelli Jo Ford, Shruti Swamy, and Laura van den Berg, and poets Threa Almontaser, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Leila Chatti, Oliver de la Paz, Diana Khoi Nguyen, and Valencia Robin.

 

Deaf Republic: A Performance by Ilya Kaminsky

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“Quiet thinking is like a current in the sea and moves freely until it’s disturbed by its own voice, and then it becomes a music each individual sings when speaking. This is what we hear when we hear Ilya read,” says poet Fanny Howe introducing Ilya Kaminsky at this 2018 reading of his poetry collection Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press, 2019) at Harvard University’s Woodberry Poetry Room.

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Fred D’Aguiar and Daljit Nagra on Poetry

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In this virtual discussion, poet, novelist, and playwright Fred D’Aguiar speaks with Daljit Nagra, chair of the Royal Society of Literature, about their shared experience of breaking ground in the poetry landscape and their favorite poets, as well as D’Aguiar’s book Year of Plagues: A Memoir of 2020 (Harper, 2021).

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Weeds

As many turn to gardening in warmer temperatures, so come the unwanted but sturdy weeds, popping up regardless of how often they’re removed. Louise Glück’s poem “Witchgrass” explores this perspective from an anthropomorphized incarnation of witchgrass, a common summer annual weed of field crops and small fruit. The result is a testament to the sheer force of nature, as well as a critique of humanity’s obsession with weeding out the seemingly unnecessary: “I don’t need your praise / to survive. I was here first, / before you were here, before / you ever planted a garden.” Write a poem from the perspective of a pesky, unwanted plant or animal. What strength can you find in the underdog?

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