In a time in which the world is increasingly dangerous, cruel, alienating, and above all, incomprehensible, we might find comfort, or at least kinship, in works of poetry. One such poet, whose inventive use of language is marked by despair and resurrection (as we shall see), seems, to me, particularly worth revisiting. To read Paul…
On National Poetry Day, we introduced you to four of our favorite American Jewish poets. Now, for World Poetry Day, get to know three Latin American Jewish poets. There’s a surprising lack of their work in English translation, so if you’re a Spanish-speaker — all three are from Spanish-speaking Central and South American countries —…
Early this morning, The New Yorker gave us some good news on an otherwise bleak day (the reissue of the travel ban, the continued “wiretap” insanity) – to celebrate their ninety-second anniversary, the magazine launched The Poetry Bot. The Poetry Bot is, according to The New Yorker, “a new way to receive, read, listen to,…
Yesterday, we wrote about the incredible resource that is ubu.com – an internet archive of all things avant-garde. It’s a tremendous place to get lost, but, although it may be the finest, there are other such archival rabbit-holes on the internet (isn’t the entire internet really just one archival rabbit hole anyways?). There’s Monoskop, Memory of…
The internet can be a scary, terrible, racist, sexist, garbage-fire of a place (4-chan exists, lest we forget). But frequently, the internet offers up a site that can remind you of its incredible potential – its potential for delightful weirdness, its potential for the democratic proliferation of knowledge. I know that I’m a little (okay,…
Look up on some of the most famous streets in Jerusalem, and you will see poems or poem-excerpts affixed to streetlamps. I found the one pictured here, on a light-blue banner, high above Emek Refaim Street, which means The Valley of Ghosts Street. The phrase emek refaim appears in the Book of Isaiah (Chapter 17,…
Two are better than one proclaimed the ancient preacher. Because, essentially, together they produce more income. But what if one cannot work? And even if both are skilled and able-bodied and employable, who will watch the children? Two are better than one said the son of David. Because they can lie together for warmth, and…
If you asked why National Poetry Day was important, the great Jewish American poet Howard Nemerov would refer you – perhaps politely, perhaps not – to the world outside. In the brief poem “Because You Asked About the Line Between Prose and Poetry,” he positions his readers in a scene in which rain turns to…
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