Joshua Bennett
Baldwin sang The Fire Next Time
in 1963 & we are living in the wake
of his impossible love. […]
January 2016
Alexis Almeida
my friend Shamala at the window, the egg-colored wall, Saj in the shower, my mom in the kitchen with the three glass bowls, never used, the shallow sink, the old woman reads the magazine in the museum basement, hands shaking, fingers follow words, my callow sympathy, I am coming to be everything I hate […]
David Thacker
Lean back, and watch the almost father flounder:
he’s become an enormous pair of eyes, isn’t
holding his wife’s hand. Her hands relax across
her chest, bare belly a soft gong. Below her navel, […]
Courage in the Chasm by Aricka Foreman at The Offing
In 2015 the world witnessed many ruptures: the attacks on Paris, countless murders of POC and Trans folks, the hopelessness biting at our heels in the dark with each mistrial, acquittal and lack of arrest. […]
The Book Report at PEN AMERICA: Fatimah Asghar
Growing up, I used to have to wash my hands before touching books. In our house, books were sacred—we were not allowed to leave them on the floor or strewn about. Any book could contain […]
National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for 2015
Today the NBCC announced its 30 finalists in six categories––autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry–for the outstanding books of 2015. The winners of three additional prizes were announced as well. The National Book Critics […]
Natalie Eilbert
The worry is always whether my indulgence like a regular subject-predicate is universal.
The worry is whether the scope of my writing now rests too firmly on autobiography and the sexual violence of autobiography. […]
Sleeping Naked With “Just a Friend”: Examining the Line Between Relationships, Friendships, and Fuckingships
by Hari Ziyad
A friend asked if he could sleep naked in bed with me. A few days before, I lay naked in the arms of another man—a friend too, perhaps my best, but a lover first, I thought. […]
Emilia Phillips
Poetry of Emilia Phillips and a conversation between Phillip B. Williams and Emilia. […]
Postscript: C. D. Wright, 1949-2016, The New Yorker
Academics and reviewers and prize committees and various admirers have tried to pin C. D. down, typically with praise: a Southern poet “of place” (she probably hated that) or an erotic poet or a vanguard […]