“Washed ashore / What was the story about?” Posted on the door of Vavala’s Deli, Darien, Connecticut.
American Culture and Poetry in the Internet Age
By J.B. Durbin
The Three That Speak to Us: “Collision,” “The Imagined,” “The Afterlife”
To all too many people, poetry is a dying art form. However upon studying the 2012 volume of Best American Poetry, Lilly and I discovered that great poetry is alive and well. After digging through all 75 of the poems in the volume, we discovered that not only is the poetic world still out there…
The Great Poem Series: Reginald Dwayne Betts’s “At the End of Life, a Secret”
Reginald Dwayne Betts’ poem “At the End of Life, a Secret” was first published in 2012 in New England Review and was later published in the 2012 volume of The Best American Poetry. The mysterious poem discusses the effect of crack cocaine on humans: specifically the effect on the soul. It cleverly suggests that crack…
Six Questions: An Interview With Brenda Shaughnessy
Brenda Shaughnessy was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1970, but grew up in Southern California. She received her BA in literature and women’s studies at the University Of California and a MFA at Columbia University. She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. She is a poetry editor-at-large at Tin House magazine…
Completely Subjective: Steven Heighton’s “Collision”
Steven Heighton, author of “Collision,” is a novelist, translator, and short story writer. Most known for his novel Afterlands, Heighton’s writing is intriguing and personal. “Collision,” published in April 2011 and featured in the 2012 edition of Best American Poetry is perhaps even more intriguing and personal than the rest of his writing. I discovered this…
