Show of Force

Having trouble viewing this email? [Click here]( to view it in your browser. [Newsletter Banner]   August 18, 2023 [Share on Twitter]( [Share on Facebook]( [Forward to a Friend]( [A collage of a barking dog, part of a Department of Justice seal, and flying birds. A few red lines are scattered throughout like redactions.]( Essay [Show of Force]( In The Ferguson Report: An Erasure, Nicole Sealey transforms a Department of Justice report into a transcendent poetic intervention. By Tiana Reid [An illustration of people standing in front of two large eyes that are framed like paintings on a wall.]( Essay [Counter Culture]( In Information Desk, Robyn Schiff recalls the beauty, boredom, and absurdities of working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By Rhian Sasseen Poem Guide [Gwendolyn Brooks’s “the mother”]( What does it mean if a poem is “neither pro nor con abortion”? By Annie Finch [Black and white image of trees along a river bank, shrouded in morning mist.]( Featured Blogger [Talking to Trees: A Conversation with Charity Coleman]( The first time I went to New York, or maybe the second, I read for the Segue series in the Zinc Bar: low stage, red velvet curtains—a windowless sexual basement, a jazz bar. This was 2014, and the event was hosted by Charity Coleman, whose performance of “introduction” was art itself: wry, sharp, almost mystical. By Aisha Sasha John [Cover of Burning Season by Yvonne Reddick]( Book Review [Burning Season by Yvonne Reddick]( and fire run through Scotland-born Yvonne Reddick’s debut, Burning Season, an ecopoetical elegy for a father who worked oil platforms of the North Sea and oil fields across the Middle East, and who died hiking in the Scottish mountains he loved, leaving his daughter their shared love of the natural world. REVIEWED BY Rebecca Morgan Frank [Cover of The Border Simulator by Gabriel Dozal]( Book Review [The Border Simulator by Gabriel Dozal]( How does a line in the sand become a border—a fictional boundary with material heft and harmful consequences? Who runs borders, and who runs across them? Which crossings are quotidian; which are cruxes upon which our lives turn? These questions are hardwired into the titular conceit of Gabriel Dozal’s debut, The Border Simulator. REVIEWED BY Christopher Spaide [Collage featuring (clockwise) Liv Mammone (Fellow), Leslie McIntosh (Fellow), Kay Ulanday Barrett (Faculty), Maurice Moore (Fellow), Ricky Ray (Fellow), Alayna Powell (Fellow), Kimberly Jae (Fellow), Meg Day (Faculty), and the Zoegossia logo (a yellow squ]( Foundation News [Meet Our Grantee-Partner: Zoeglossia]( In 2016, poets Sheila Black and Kathi Wolfe had a conversation discussing the barriers faced by poets with disabilities. Kathi questioned why there couldn’t be a non-profit focused specifically on supporting disabled poets. In 2017, Black, Jennifer Bartlett, and Connie Voisine did just that by forming Zoeglossia. Featured Podcasts POETRY MAGAZINE [Richie Hofmann and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Erotic Turmoil and More]( This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok talks with Richie Hofmann, whose latest book is A Hundred Lovers (Knopf, 2022), about the ancient tale of Hermias of Iasos which informs Hofmann’s poem “Dolphin.” The poem appears in the July/August issue of Poetry alongside “Breed Me,” and we’ll hear both on today’s episode. [Listen to audio version }}]( Listen POETRY off the shelf [Invisible Hands]( Airea D. Matthews on self-interest, starry skies, and her parents’ fateful wedding day. [Listen to audio version }}]( Listen VS [Brittany and Ajanae vs. The Audience]( For this first episode of Season 7, Brittany and Ajanae decided to answer audience questions generated via social media. Join them as they tackle hot topics, their writing process, how they navigate friendship and business, and much more! [Listen to audio version }}]( Listen   [More Featured Podcasts]( SUBSCRIBE [GET POETRY]( [The Poetry Foundation]( [The Poetry Foundation on Twitter]( [The Poetry Foundation on Facebook]( [The Poetry Foundation on Instagram](   You have received this email because you submitted your email address at www.poetryfoundation.org. You may [unsubscribe]( or [change]( your newsletter subscription preferences at any time. © 2023 Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation 61 W. Superior Street Chicago, IL 60654 USA #