Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 90
October 28, 2020
No Alphabet
JOANNE DOMINIQUE DWYER
If not for the lust of women, there would be no alphabet. / Save for the breaking of traffic rules, there would be / no Cubism; no fractured light scrutinized from subways / or kaleidoscopes in the tool belts of surveyors.
If not for the lust of women, there would be no alphabet. / Save for the breaking of traffic rules, there would be / no Cubism; no fractured light scrutinized from subways / or kaleidoscopes in the tool belts of surveyors.
Reach
IAIN TWIDDY
As if he was pelting for a winter, / his hair returning, the closer he gets, / to that flossy, watchful, infant softness, / like the idea of an angel’s wing; / and how would it feel, as cotton as snow, / … should I reach out, / cup his skull as he once must have mine…
As if he was pelting for a winter, / his hair returning, the closer he gets, / to that flossy, watchful, infant softness, / like the idea of an angel’s wing; / and how would it feel, as cotton as snow, / … should I reach out, / cup his skull as he once must have mine…
Berlin (Eulogy 1)
PETER LABERGE
Back in America, we’re still waiting for boys to die queerly. We’ve learned to expect it: the cops parked at the mailbox & ringing the doorbell, a mother afraid to answer, burying her scream in an apron in a moonlit kitchen. In Berlin, in the translation of afternoon...
Back in America, we’re still waiting for boys to die queerly. We’ve learned to expect it: the cops parked at the mailbox & ringing the doorbell, a mother afraid to answer, burying her scream in an apron in a moonlit kitchen. In Berlin, in the translation of afternoon...
Another Education
CRISTINA CARLOS
In the playground, I didn’t count / I didn’t figure in games, I didn’t exist / No matter how right I was in the classroom
In the playground, I didn’t count / I didn’t figure in games, I didn’t exist / No matter how right I was in the classroom
Brief Exchanges
SUSANA MOREIRA MARQUES
It begins with her saying I’ve never told anyone and ends with me saying Neither have I. And in between, a single sentence on how the love we feel for a child is not necessarily immediate, on how we need time to get to know and fall in love. We talk over the phone; this may never have happened face-to-face.
It begins with her saying I’ve never told anyone and ends with me saying Neither have I. And in between, a single sentence on how the love we feel for a child is not necessarily immediate, on how we need time to get to know and fall in love. We talk over the phone; this may never have happened face-to-face.
Maria, I’m Going to War
JOSÉ PINTO DE SÁ
Papá announced, “Maria, I’m going to war,” and stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray. Mamã, clearing the table, gave her usual start. She stood stranded in the kitchen doorway, a dirty plate in each hand.
Papá announced, “Maria, I’m going to war,” and stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray. Mamã, clearing the table, gave her usual start. She stood stranded in the kitchen doorway, a dirty plate in each hand.
October 23, 2020
October 2020 Poetry Feature: Lusa-American Poets
CAROLYN SILVEIRA
In Portugal, they were gifting traditional / dogs to goatherds who had lost / their way. My father was no / goatherd. My father, far away / in California had nightmares / about blackberries: They rose early to pick him / clucking in Portuguese, which he could not,/ would not understand.
In Portugal, they were gifting traditional / dogs to goatherds who had lost / their way. My father was no / goatherd. My father, far away / in California had nightmares / about blackberries: They rose early to pick him / clucking in Portuguese, which he could not,/ would not understand.
October 22, 2020
Ask a Local with Joaquim Arena: Praia, Cape Verde Islands
JOAQUIM ARENA
Praia's most striking feature is its historical neighborhood, called the Plateau—a small tableland of colonial architecture houses, public buildings, parks and gardens, overlooking a bay (the Baía de Santa Maria). This was where the city was first built, a city that would go on to become the capital of the island (the Island of Santiago).
Praia's most striking feature is its historical neighborhood, called the Plateau—a small tableland of colonial architecture houses, public buildings, parks and gardens, overlooking a bay (the Baía de Santa Maria). This was where the city was first built, a city that would go on to become the capital of the island (the Island of Santiago).
October 21, 2020
Bread N’ Roses
ERICA PLOUFFE LAZURE
This morning, from our bed, Luke and I listened again for the ice-cream truck melody of the Portuguese bread truck. Not that we needed bread, because we’d bought a week’s worth the day before at our tiny grocery store that is also a bar and is also a café.
This morning, from our bed, Luke and I listened again for the ice-cream truck melody of the Portuguese bread truck. Not that we needed bread, because we’d bought a week’s worth the day before at our tiny grocery store that is also a bar and is also a café.
October 19, 2020
Writers on Writing: Kritika Pandey
KRITIKA PANDEY
The first time I was shortlisted, in 2016, is when I first realized that now people see me as a “writer.” But I don’t think any of it particularly changed how I thought about my writing itself.
The first time I was shortlisted, in 2016, is when I first realized that now people see me as a “writer.” But I don’t think any of it particularly changed how I thought about my writing itself.
