From the Blog

10 Questions for Jonathan Weinert

August 20, 2018 - By Sarah Lofstrom

But she was never coming through the snow.
The cottontail’s earth door gapes
And in its cold
Throat
Her kitten waits. 

            -From "Origins of Poetry " Summer 2018 (Volume 59, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
I’ve been writing poems, on and off and falteringly, ever since I was about seven years old, so there are countless unremembered poems that I can’t account for, and many of the first poems I wrote when I became serious about it were either never finished or abandoned.

I began writing poems in earnest just after the attacks of September 11, 2001. I heard Stanley Kunitz and W. S. Merwin on NPR...

(Not Quite) 10 Questions for Anne Milano Appel

August 17, 2018 - By Sarah Lofstrom

It’s almost four o’clock and the hour hand quivers.

They told Mr. Ignazio Coppola to sit here and be a good boy now, and wait. And Mr. Ignazio sits waiting sedately as he was told to, his back straight and his hands spread on his knees. Every now and then he looks at the wall clock: it’s almost four o’clock, Arturo and little Camilla will be there at any moment. 
—From"  If I Don't Come Back, Don't Go Looking For Me ," Summer 2018, (Volume 59, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you translated.
While not the first, one of the earliest projects I remember was a book by Enzo Fontana called Tra la perduta gente (Mondadori, 1996). I was attracted to the book...

Those Boys in the Hoods

August 16, 2018 - By Jim Hicks

(photo: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

If you’re reading this blog, one of two things can be assumed: either that you made a point of seeing the new Spike Lee film this past weekend, during the first anniversary of the march on Charlottesville, or that you’ve read at least a review or two, and so already suspect that we may be talking about a masterpiece here. We are. Let’s skip the plot summary, then, so we can move on to what matters more—to this country, and therefore the world, and, I suspect, even to Spike himself.

I don’t need to remind you all that the title of the filmmaker’s breakthrough movie was a call to action, written...

10 Questions for Mirfet Piccolo

August 13, 2018 - By Sarah Lofstrom

 It’s almost four o’clock and the hour hand quivers.

They told Mr. Ignazio Coppola to sit here and be a good boy now, and wait. And Mr. Ignazio sits waiting sedately as he was told to, his back straight and his hands spread on his knees. Every now and then he looks at the wall clock: it’s almost four o’clock, Arturo and little Camilla will be there at any moment. 

-From “If I Don’t Come Back, Don’t Come Looking For Me,” Summer 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
One of the first pieces I wrote was a small collection of short stories for kids that I wrote for my nephew. It was in 1996. I thought it would have been fun to play with him by reading...

10 Questions for Elizabeth Knapp

August 9, 2018 - By Edward Clifford

"After a heated debate about the nature
of inspiration (poetry versus prose),
with you arguing that idea begets word,
and not vice versa, as I believe is the case

with verse (always the music first),
which was prompted by a discussion
of Dickinson's envelope poems,
and whether she wrote the poem"
—from “Sixth Year: Iron,” Summer 2018 (Vol. 59, Issu2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
In the summer between ninth and tenth grade, I read Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, which prompted me to read more about the history of South Africa. At some point later that year, I read a biography of Stephen Biko and wrote an elegy for him in my creative writing...