Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 78
June 1, 2021
Frost’s Footfall
PETER ARSCOTT
The bulky figure coming towards me on the path has a stick in one hand, a small bag in the other, but I can’t make out his face because the dappled light that filters through the trees in the wood is playing with his features. As with most people, my mind drifts when I go for long walks and I forget about my surroundings.
The bulky figure coming towards me on the path has a stick in one hand, a small bag in the other, but I can’t make out his face because the dappled light that filters through the trees in the wood is playing with his features. As with most people, my mind drifts when I go for long walks and I forget about my surroundings.
May 27, 2021
May 2021 Poetry Feature: Humberto Ak’abal, Translated by Loren Goodman
HUMBERTO AK’ABAL
After fifty years / I cannot measure the strength of her courage. / How many times have I seen her sad, / broken under the weight of work, / crying in silence, / suffering within. / And today, as if suddenly / I would have lifted my eyes; / I look at my mother / and I realize / that I too / I am getting older
After fifty years / I cannot measure the strength of her courage. / How many times have I seen her sad, / broken under the weight of work, / crying in silence, / suffering within. / And today, as if suddenly / I would have lifted my eyes; / I look at my mother / and I realize / that I too / I am getting older
May 25, 2021
Writers on Writing: Tanya Coke
TANYA COKE
It was a little like reviewing the tape of a home movie and picking the most emotionally laden scenes in a story that traverses 40 years. Or maybe squinting at a landscape to make an impressionist painting and trying to capture the most vivid things in the frame.
It was a little like reviewing the tape of a home movie and picking the most emotionally laden scenes in a story that traverses 40 years. Or maybe squinting at a landscape to make an impressionist painting and trying to capture the most vivid things in the frame.
May 24, 2021
Impact
WHITNEY BRUNO
Spending a day wandering down to Galway’s craggy coast always meant getting whipped red by the wind, sprayed by frigid sea water and hobbling back to campus with brown sand granules sticking to your legs… But the feeling that I was always close to the water led me to find a bit of Caribbean within the brusque Irish sea.
Spending a day wandering down to Galway’s craggy coast always meant getting whipped red by the wind, sprayed by frigid sea water and hobbling back to campus with brown sand granules sticking to your legs… But the feeling that I was always close to the water led me to find a bit of Caribbean within the brusque Irish sea.
May 21, 2021
Podcast: Jennifer Jean on “California”
JENNIFER JEAN
Jennifer Jean speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her poem “California,” which appears on The Common online, in a special portfolio of writing from the Lusosphere (Portugal and its colonial and linguistic diaspora).
Jennifer Jean speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her poem “California,” which appears on The Common online, in a special portfolio of writing from the Lusosphere (Portugal and its colonial and linguistic diaspora).
May 19, 2021
The Battle of the Camel
SARA ELKAMEL
When you’re not looking / I try on your big brown shoes, / pick a spot to run to, practice ducking from winged pellets on the street— / but the hardwood floors mock me / and creak.
When you’re not looking / I try on your big brown shoes, / pick a spot to run to, practice ducking from winged pellets on the street— / but the hardwood floors mock me / and creak.
May 14, 2021
May 2021 Friday Reads: Issue 21 Contributors
Curated by ISABEL MEYERS
We’re celebrating a successful spring issue launch by showcasing book recommendations from our Issue 21 contributors. Their picks, which range from a poetry collection exploring Latino identity to a memoir documenting incarceration in the 1850s, are diverse in form yet collectively poignant and timely.
We’re celebrating a successful spring issue launch by showcasing book recommendations from our Issue 21 contributors. Their picks, which range from a poetry collection exploring Latino identity to a memoir documenting incarceration in the 1850s, are diverse in form yet collectively poignant and timely.
May 13, 2021
Petrol
MELANIE BRODER
With about 15 kilometers to go before Gyumri, we start having car trouble. Moments earlier, the taxi driver was passing other cars like a madman passing for sane. Now the tiny, rusted Opel is making a humming and stalling noise whenever he adjusts the gear.
With about 15 kilometers to go before Gyumri, we start having car trouble. Moments earlier, the taxi driver was passing other cars like a madman passing for sane. Now the tiny, rusted Opel is making a humming and stalling noise whenever he adjusts the gear.
May 11, 2021
New Methods in Tooth Brushing
ANNA LENA PHILLIPS BELL
I know that being told to do something by someone with authority can help in the execution of the task. And it’s why some of us keep taking drawing classes or writing workshops or ballet classes… long after it’s clear we never will be amazing at them.
I know that being told to do something by someone with authority can help in the execution of the task. And it’s why some of us keep taking drawing classes or writing workshops or ballet classes… long after it’s clear we never will be amazing at them.
May 10, 2021
Hold the Mirror up to Nature: An Interview with Matt Miller
MATT MILLER
I was trying to catch the language of chipped red brick, the cobblestone, the deafening shuttling metal of power looms, the vernacular of the people. I guess there's a violence to the language as well. And that may be just the way English works.
I was trying to catch the language of chipped red brick, the cobblestone, the deafening shuttling metal of power looms, the vernacular of the people. I guess there's a violence to the language as well. And that may be just the way English works.
