Bill Knott, “Painting vs. Poetry”
How do fantasy and reality relate? I know I leap from fantasy to fantasy without having the slightest clue about what I wanted in the first place. Knott’s...
Category: poetry
John Ashbery, “Pleasure Boats”
What does it mean to understand “Pleasure Boats?” Typically, the words of a poem allow reconstruction of a speaker and scenario, I derive a meaning ...
Louise Glück, “Snowdrops”
The body, the body, the body. We are told it is ours because it is our property. But it can be said to claim us—its uniqueness entails our scars, our pain, our ...
Franz Wright, “P.S.”
I’ve written so many bad love letters that it’s hard not to read Franz Wright’s “P.S.” and count myself fortunate for having stopp...
Ilya Kaminsky, “Question”
On the one hand, I cannot relate to Ilya Kaminsky’s “Question.” I have not experienced war or a trauma like it. I cannot begin to imagine the ...