Nov 21, 2016Poetry isn’t politics. But as my students helped remind me, it can be the fertile soil for our better selves.
↩︎ Slate
Poetry for uncertain times
In times of crisis, many turn to poetry for comfort--and also for galvanizing inspiration. The Guardian pulled together five poems to help counter despair—and apathy—in the days following Trump's election.
But why do we seek out poems? The editor of Poetry magazine attempts to explain poetry's allure in times of war and uncertainty, to chart the intersection between politics and art, between poetry and activism. "Sooner or later, we’ll find that poetry has been waiting for us."
The planet goes on being round. pic.twitter.com/Yd2BgX8abG
— Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) November 9, 2016
Death to the New Yorker (Poem)
"The New Yorker poem" is a kind of poem all poets know, and many hate. Abraham Adams at Triple Canopy outlines the evolution of "the New Yorker poem," from doggerel about panhandlers (He juggles the nickels / And jingles the dimes / And duly dispenses the quarters) and dog shows—you know, the kind of stuff we can all relate to—to a "communiqué on experience" that assumes both reader and writer share a certain, specific cultural vocabulary.
Shuffle Off This Mortal Combover
Trump has taken on an unexpected literary role—that of the muse. In the past year, he and his combover have served as the subject for over two thousand poems on the website Hello Poetry. The website is free to join and allows users to post anything they’ve written.
Sep 7, 2016Madam President, where has all the funding gone for arts in the schools? Could those kuts be the reesen we are all getin dummer?
↩︎ Poets & Writers
Blues on a Block
A writer is working to save Langston Hughes’s $3 million Harlem brownstone from being sold off as the surrounding neighborhood gentrifies.
The Editors' Longreads Picks
- An excellent essay on poverty and writing by Starr Davis. Updated May 31, 2022
- Novelist Héctor Tobar tries to understand the 1992 Los Angeles riots through the experiences of a single high school.
- Steven Johnson with a long assessment of the current state of A.I. and language. (The illusion has gotten very good.)
Welcome to The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2017 edition.
- Our championship match is decided in the Tournament of Books, with news of a Rooster surprise debuting this summer. Updated Mar 31, 2017
- In Thursday's action, Reyhan Harmanci sets up a colossal final.
- The Zombie round opens with Buzzfeed's Isaac Fitzgerald reading The Nix and The Underground Railroad.
Все ваши Белый дом принадлежит нам.
- "Will Putin expose the failings of American democracy or will he inadvertently expose the strength of American democracy?" Updated Mar 3, 2017
- Wilbur Ross just wanted to make some money in ethically gray areas (that should've prevented him from taking office).
- Jeff Sessions's spokeswoman can't help but continue to lie.
The oceans are under assault, and not just from the White House and friends.
- Trump's assault on the environment begins with American headwaters. Updated Mar 1, 2017
- Don't just blame the oil companies for destroying the oceans—blame sushi restaurants.
- Nothing escapes the deepest trenches of the ocean floor. Not light, not nutrients, not pollutants.