From the Blog

10 Questions for Hanna Leliv

February 3, 2025 - By Franchesca Viaud

     The woman who was once caught by the air raid siren while she was taking a bath was most afraid of dying like that—without her panties, naked, with wet hair and hairy legs; 
     afraid that the first responders who would pull her from the rubble would see her white body with cellulite prominent on her thighs and a soft, sagging belly she had learned to pull in with corrective underwear and think, "Who prepares for death like that? She could've at least lost a few pounds and worked out for a few months";
—from...

10 Questions for Chelsea Dingman

January 27, 2025 - By Franchesca Viaud

Cut yourself on the refrigerator
light in the kitchen, & tell no one that you meant to
                       unsheath the rain.

Cure your thirst by swallowing the bath
-water inside the baby. 
—from Chelsea Dingman's "Protocols for Assessing Depression" Volume 65, Issue 3 (Fall 2024)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
My father died in a car accident in a blizzard when I was nine. The...

The Last Song of the World

January 21, 2025 - By Christos Kalli

A Review of Joseph Fasano's The Last Song of the World (BOA Editions, 2024)

Like a deep breath, like a flower that blooms against the relentless elements of an inhospitable season, Joseph Fasano’s The Last Song of the World begins with “Sudden Hymn in Winter,” a short but powerful poem, functioning almost as the collection’s own epigraph:

What if, after years
of trial,
a love should come
and lay a hand upon you
and say,
this late
your life is not a crime

In the simple language with which he...

10 Questions for Marissa Davis

January 13, 2025 - By Franchesca Viaud

This morning, something in my doubt dissolves.
The footprint or the transparency of floors.
The wells open up. Sometimes, the wells close again.
The added materials haven’t allowed the decision anything.
Footsteps must swell, take up bone. The wells must rise.
—from Marissa Davis' translation of Stéphanie Ferrat's "Skyside" Volume 65, Issue 3 (Fall 2024)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you translated.
Technically, one of the first pieces I translated was my own! Before I began translating others’ work, I would sometimes translate my own poems into French and back into English as a combined revision (of the poem) and vocabulary-building (of my French) exercise. I first began...

New Beers Resolutions

January 10, 2025 - By Marsha Bryant

Are you in a beer slump, do you steer
Clear of tastes unlike those you hold dear?
Well, I have a solution:
New Beers Resolutions!
I tried it; there’s nothing to fear.

1.
If you like a clean lager (no frills),
Here’s a beer that might just fit your bill:
For Rebellion Red Lager
Has a touch of swagger
With sweetness and crispness instilled.

2.
Beer for breakfast? Why not go for sweet
Instead of a savory treat?
Cinnamon Bacon Roll
Just might be your beer goal—
Tastes like pastry that’s fresh off the sheet.

3.
If a pourable Reese’s you seek,
Then you’re in for a...