Poetry Archives

Three Poems

“you certainly have the right to your thoughts in this minefield” All that’s dammed-up in your head, hammered by the whitewater current of your knowing better— the daily small…

I Imitate You

by Tongo Eisen-Martin,

1960s newspaper clippings and teeth hang on a string—Like a book of life I’m in the kitchen with my killer Picking all the teeth out of a mouth harp Cigarette-ing…

Basement Suite

by Karen Solie,

Left to our use are the fixtures and appliances Repented of by the homeowners Who don’t realize this is a way to know them. In the basement one is closer…

Resistances

by Fred Moten, Ben Lerner,

The prepositions you’re most likely to encounter after the title of a poem are “for” or “to” and sometimes “after”—“for my daughter”; “to Bobby”; “after Pound”; etc. They signify dedication,…

Battlefield and Wind Chime

by Tongo Eisen-Martin, Ben Lerner,

Tongo Eisen-Martin’s poems are echo chambers of vernaculars and unofficial languages. He both registers the damage caused by systemic racism and evinces—and by his work extends—the rich modes of resistance…

Six Poems

by Ben Lerner, Michael Palmer,

The formal accomplishment of Michael Palmer’s poetry is in tension with one of his recurrent themes: the limits and slippages of language. A poem dedicated to the trumpeter and composer…

Two Poems

by Anthony Amsterdam,

Four in Verse

by John Ashbery, Ben Lerner,

Many of John Ashbery’s recent poems are full of sayings and parables and clichés — but from what culture, what country? The world of these poems resembles ours: there are…