from The Household Gods
“For all things have been created unfinished, and the smith must skim away the dross. The outcast god, the cuckolded god. In whose image this is made.” Old tales take on new voice in these poems from Dave Lucas.
Four Paintings by Margarita Gokun
Four haunting and alluring paintings by Margarita Gokun, a writer, novelist, and painter, and an editor’s note.
from Then Winter
Read a selection of poems from Chloe Honum‘s new chapbook, the latest in our series of samplers from Durham chapbook publishers.
Standing Water
“I am eight years old, and the sun has set, and I am nowhere near Memphis, Tennessee, when Jeff Buckley slips under the surface of Wolf River Harbor.” Lee Huttner on music, mourning, and faith.
The Poem That Won’t Leave You Alone
Chad Parmenter, Sumita Chakraborty, Roger Sederat, Alexandra Socarides, Katy Didden, Matthew Cooperman, Alfred Corn, Jennifer Perrine, V. Penelope Pelizzon, and Victoria Chang on poems that will not go away.
from Drapetomania
Read a selection of poems from Cynthia Parker-Ohene‘s new chapbook, the first in a series of samplers from Durham chapbook publishers.
Callimachus in Sicily
“the thing / that baffles travelers in Zanton / is that nobody who lives there is allowed / …to tell the whole story of how it came to be.” In Stephen Burt‘s poem, Callimachus tells the story of a town whose citizens will never “name / the founders of the town, / who kept it safe through subterfuge and shame.”
Kimberly Witham
Kimberly talks with Darren Ching and Debra Klomp Ching about her Vanitas-inspired Of Ripeness And Rot series of still-life photographs.
Two Poems
“I am an ugly boy but it’s a pretty / day everywhere hard blue snow and old / men arguing.” Two new poems from Kaveh Akbar careen toward beauty, salvation, and self-destruction.
Attitudes at the New Year
“Pieces of righteousness look like a river of baroque pearls with mean, red, pre-digital eyes. ” Kathleen Ossip looks ahead and gathers her “ragged power,” trying for some way to do better this time.
from island of no birdsong
“i want to believe / in the resurrection / of the body because / i have no memories / of birdsong.” In a new poem from Craig Santos Perez, documentary and lyric overlap in the destruction of both avian life and human culture on Guam.
Bill Durgin
Bill Durgin talks with Darren Ching and Debra Klomp Ching about his creative process and inspiration for the Studio Fantasy series of photographs.
Forty-nine
“To lift and see my hands. To see my elbows in a headstand. There went the earth, pressed down. There I went, up from what was dragging me.” A new essay on surprise, yoga, shooting, and writing from Colette LaBouff.
The Devouring
“[H}e has outlived // everything but the taste / of his sons’ hair when gently / he kisses them incessantly // at the altar of their sleep.” In a new poem from Adam Tavel, Goya’s savage image of Saturn inhales decades of violence.
Four Poems
“I must learn / the language of rain / to speak to plants.” A handful of new poems from Tyree Daye summon the dead and the living, family and prayer. “If there is something perfect in life,” he writes, “let it come now.”