Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 87
December 18, 2020
Podcast: Tara Skurtu on “Offering”
TARA SKURTU
Tara Skurtu speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about “Offering,” her poem from Issue 19 of The Common magazine. “Offering,” and many more of Skurtu’s poems, are set in Bucharest, Romania, where the poet has lived for several years.
Tara Skurtu speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about “Offering,” her poem from Issue 19 of The Common magazine. “Offering,” and many more of Skurtu’s poems, are set in Bucharest, Romania, where the poet has lived for several years.
Friday Reads: December 2020
Curated by ISABEL MEYERS
In the final Friday Reads of 2020, we’re hearing again from our volunteer readers on what books have been keeping them engrossed and entertained as the weather gets colder. For this second batch, our readers highlight books set everywhere from an Anishinaabe reserve in Ontario to Sofia, Bulgaria and a city in 1950s Italy.
In the final Friday Reads of 2020, we’re hearing again from our volunteer readers on what books have been keeping them engrossed and entertained as the weather gets colder. For this second batch, our readers highlight books set everywhere from an Anishinaabe reserve in Ontario to Sofia, Bulgaria and a city in 1950s Italy.
December 17, 2020
A Cornstalk
Rubem Braga
Through radar, the Americans made contact with the moon, which of course is exciting. But the most important event of the week happened with my cornstalk.
Through radar, the Americans made contact with the moon, which of course is exciting. But the most important event of the week happened with my cornstalk.
December 15, 2020
The Value of an English Garden in Brooklyn
JULIA LICHTBLAU
When the pandemic hit last spring, I felt like Marie Antoinette playing shepherdess. There is no sacrifice or bravery in growing or writing about flowers. Now I think: So what? The garden needed us, and we needed it. Saedi, Kerri, Courtney, Matt, Debbie, Leah, Mira, Rachel, and I—plus irregulars, including children.
When the pandemic hit last spring, I felt like Marie Antoinette playing shepherdess. There is no sacrifice or bravery in growing or writing about flowers. Now I think: So what? The garden needed us, and we needed it. Saedi, Kerri, Courtney, Matt, Debbie, Leah, Mira, Rachel, and I—plus irregulars, including children.
December 11, 2020
December 2020 Poetry Feature: Virginia Konchan
VIRGINIA KONCHAN
Beautiful blur, you are allowed to know / and not understand. You are allowed / to protest against the dull accumulation / of years. Consider, serf, your mounting. / Consider your proximity to the stage.
Beautiful blur, you are allowed to know / and not understand. You are allowed / to protest against the dull accumulation / of years. Consider, serf, your mounting. / Consider your proximity to the stage.
December 10, 2020
Şükrü Erbaş: Turkish Poems in Translation
DERICK MATTERN
Erbaş’s reputation in Turkish poetry hasn’t strayed far from the geography he grew up in, neither from its idyllic beauty nor from its brutal poverty and neglect. But while Erbaş doesn’t shy away from the politics or economic struggles of the long-suffering Anatolian people, he’s not reducible to a mere political or a nature poet.
Erbaş’s reputation in Turkish poetry hasn’t strayed far from the geography he grew up in, neither from its idyllic beauty nor from its brutal poverty and neglect. But while Erbaş doesn’t shy away from the politics or economic struggles of the long-suffering Anatolian people, he’s not reducible to a mere political or a nature poet.
December 9, 2020
Providence
DARIEN HSU GEE
On the side of the road near our home on the hill in Waimea, a cluster of perfumed yellow ginger, Hedychium flavescens, also known as cream garland-lily or ʻawapuhi melemele.
On the side of the road near our home on the hill in Waimea, a cluster of perfumed yellow ginger, Hedychium flavescens, also known as cream garland-lily or ʻawapuhi melemele.
December 8, 2020
Podcast: David Moloney on “Counsel”
DAVID MOLONEY
Writer David Moloney speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Counsel,” which appears in Issue 19 of The Common. “Counsel” is an excerpt from Moloney’s novel-in-stories, Barker House, set in a correctional facility in New Hampshire.
Writer David Moloney speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Counsel,” which appears in Issue 19 of The Common. “Counsel” is an excerpt from Moloney’s novel-in-stories, Barker House, set in a correctional facility in New Hampshire.
Review: The Life Assignment
ALICIA MIRELES CHRISTOFF
Ricardo Alberto Maldonado calls his poems incantatory: they are meant to be sung or recited, to gather sense through their sounds. I felt this reading The Life Assignment: the enormous power of words--flat on the page and threatening permanent inertness--rising up animated and alive when given mouth and breath and ear, like fallen leaves swirled up by the wind.
Ricardo Alberto Maldonado calls his poems incantatory: they are meant to be sung or recited, to gather sense through their sounds. I felt this reading The Life Assignment: the enormous power of words--flat on the page and threatening permanent inertness--rising up animated and alive when given mouth and breath and ear, like fallen leaves swirled up by the wind.
December 7, 2020
Willie Perdomo To Join Editorial Staff of The Common
TC Staff
The Common, the award-winning literary journal based at Amherst College, has hired acclaimed poet Willie Perdomo as its new Interviews Editor. With publishing experience stretching back twenty-five years, Perdomo currently teaches English at Philips Exeter Academy.
The Common, the award-winning literary journal based at Amherst College, has hired acclaimed poet Willie Perdomo as its new Interviews Editor. With publishing experience stretching back twenty-five years, Perdomo currently teaches English at Philips Exeter Academy.
