This year, I’ll finally turn an age I can’t say in Hindi. And even if I get around to finally inputting “fifteen” into Google Translate, I still won’t know how to say it: the syllables will rust and bend around my tongue like cheap metal, and I’ll roll my “r’s” in a way learned in…
American Culture and Poetry in the Internet Age
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Completely Subjective: Jeffrey Harrison’s “Amnesia”
Jeffrey Harrison’s poem “Amnesia,” describes a scene that most people reading the poem can easily immerse themselves in. A moment of remembering something, but it being on the tip of your tongue— a memory you can almost reach, yet one that becomes murky once specific details are required. Harrison was born in Cincinnati in 1957…
Completely Subjective: Anne Carson’s “A Fragment of Ibykos Translated Six Ways”
“[T]his is the magic of fragments—the way that poem breaks off leads into a thought that can’t ever be apprehended. There is the space where a thought would be, but which you can’t get hold of. I love that space. It’s the reason I like to deal with fragments. Because no matter what the thought…
“A Message From Tony Hoagland”: Eight Questions for Jeffrey Harrison
Jeffrey Harrison was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1957. After graduating from Columbia University- during which he worked with various poets including Kenneth Koch and David Shapiro, Harrison went on to teach at many educational institutions like George Washington University and Phillips Academy where he was a Writer-in-Residence. Currently, he resides in Massachusetts with his…
“Interstate Highway System” : Eight Questions for Adam O. Davis
“How will you live with and within yourself under the umbrella of America?” – Adam O. Davis, The Best American Poetry 2021 This question was the spark for the award winning poem, the “Interstate Highway System,” a poem that inspires a deep wanderlust in the reader as well as reflection. The author of this poem,…
“women’s rights at one hundred (but who’s counting?)”: Eight Questions for Evie Shockley
As a modern day female, I don’t have to ask permission to learn, speak, or play sports. To live in a world where education, independence and self expression as assumed rights are in actuality a privilege that is taken for granted. Yet, the history of women’s rights reminds us that such freedoms were not freely…
“Night Of The Living”: Six Questions for Susan Leslie Moore
Susan Leslie Moore is a Portland, Oregon based poet, writer, editor, and director of Programs for Writers at Literary Arts, where she organizes writing programs and events. Moore’s writings are known for exploring the course of identity and the tension between imagination and reality, as well as her connections to the natural world through observations…
“The Travelers”: Nine Questions for Abigail Dembo
One thing that’s been interesting to me for a while is about how we think about and remember the past, such as old memories, family stories, or just short moments that stick in your head for whatever reason. For this reason, Abigail Dembo’s poem “The Travelers” gained my attention in Best American Poetry 2025. The…
“A Letter from Rome”: Seven Questions for Morri Creech
I have always been interested in the history of the ancients, from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the political disputes that end in death to the gods– honestly anything about them is exciting to me. It’s another life that is significantly different from modern day life in so many ways. When I was looking…