Dear friends,

A few weeks ago when we published Laura Kashishke she emailed me saying that every poet she’s ever met messaged her about that feature. That obviously made us very happy & proud. That we have been able to capture a large & engaged audience is something we do not at all take for granted. Many emerging poets we’ve published have ended up becoming friends, meeting each other online & in person. Before going on this short summer break, we published Danez Smith whose work came in the queue & we were thrilled by their generosity & belief in the voice & aesthetic of our magazine.

This is mostly to say that writing is a lonely profession (maybe less so now because of all writers have to do) & each time something that we publish speaks to you, you must make it a point to reach out to the poet. I’ve written many letters to people whose work I’ve admired and so much of that has turned to lasting friendships & mentorships. If you can’t find the email addresses of people we publish, you can always send your notes of appreciation etc to us and we’ll always make sure to send them their way.

Yours,

​Karan​

POET OF THE WEEK Irène Mathieu

Irène P. Mathieu (she/her/hers) is a pediatrician and poet. She is author of the poetry collections milk tongue (Deep Vellum Press), Grand Marronage (Switchback Books), orogeny (Trembling Pillow Press), and the galaxy of origins (dancing girl press).

from Flowerson

one afternoon in the year of fascism
the grocery store for some reason
is full of young Black men buying flowers

Interrogating Motherhood & the Human Experience

Mothering a young child splintered my attention, particularly during those first few years, and as a result I found my language splintered. Part of what guides this series of poems, though, is a curiosity about what new ways of writing might emerge from this new reality, rather than mourning what I could no longer access. I decided to approach my altered relationship to language as a poetic experiment instead of being disheartened by it.

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$2000 Bob Hicok Fellowship for All Poets, Everywhere