Antología de poesía checa contemporánea. Ed. Radim Kopáč. Trad. Patricia Gonzalo de Jesús. Editorial Pre-Textos, 2013.
May 1st, 2013
“For Emily Dickinson every philosophical idea was a potential lover. Metaphysics is the realm of eternal seduction of the spirit by ideas.”
—Charles Simic, from section IV of The Monster Lovers His Labyrinth: Notebooks (Copper Canyon Press, 2008)
(Source: apoetreflects)
March 5th, 2013
Journalist, Eliza Griswold, introduces her coverage of the landai poetry in Afghanistan. Landai poems, which are two line poems, address various issues that affect Afghan women daily. These women use landai as an outlet from their constricted lives. However, these women have to keep their passion a secret, and often times use pen names to keep their identity hidden.
Zarmina, an Afghan girl used the name Rahila to hide her poetry from a controlling family. Pulitzer Center grantee, Eliza Griswold, investigates Zarmina’s secret life and her involvement in Mirman Baheer, a women’s literary society based in Kabul. Read her reporting and some of the poetry of Afghanistan’s women here.
We’re highlighting our female journalists all week for International Women’s Day on March 8th.
(Source: pulitzercenter)
February 28th, 2013
Whatever its actual content and overt interest, every poem is rooted in imaginative awe. Poetry can do a hundred and one things, delight, sadden, disturb, amuse, instruct – it may express every possible shade of emotion, and describe every conceivable kind of event, but there is only one thing that all poetry must do; it must praise all it can for being and for happening.
—W. H. Auden, “Making, Knowing, and Judging” in The Dyer’s Hand and Other Essays (Faber and Faber, 1963)
February 23rd, 2013
Nina Simone sings “Images,” original lyrics from William Waring Cuney’s poem “No Images.” Yesterday was the birthday of Nina Simone, a singer and civil rights activist. Ebony discusses casting Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone in an upcoming biopic. Plus, more poems for Black History Month.
(Source: poetrysince1912)
