Mary Ruefle, “Sent to the Monk”
Last night I watched a man who could barely take a step without struggling to breathe buy cigarettes. I don’t want the image to leave me. Dark, pronounced...
Category: poetry
Emily Dickinson, “Apology for Her” (852)
Dickinson’s reflections on sexuality can be harsh. The last two lines of this short poem have a distinct tone, as she seems to feel wronged, holding a cer...
Emily Dickinson, “Spring is the Period” (844)
I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do with this poem if it weren’t for an incredibly embittering experience. I just watched a young man blithely dis...
Rae Armantrout, “Equals”
At times I wish I were a physicist. I would like to properly marvel at the forces at play in driving a race car or understand the energies indicating the presen...
Solmaz Sharif, “America”
It’s the pacing. The pacing crushes. Listen to how these short, bullet-like sentences fire and linger: I had to. I learned it. It was if. With “I ha...