POET OF THE WEEK Danez Smith Danez Smith is the author of four collections including Bluff, a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Their prose has been featured in The New Yorker, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, and elsewhere. Their fifth collection – Love, Time – will be published Fall 2027. They live in Minneapolis with their people. from Dear Time if Time happens God is detail if Time is random God is a hunger for pattern if Time kills God does too Read 6 new poems Sharing Body and Soul...
26 days ago • 1 min read
Dear friends, I write to you once again surrounded by thousands of books — my happy place — though this time the difference is that we're unpacking, which is a great deal more exciting. Deciding which book goes on which shelf is a task I take very seriously and enjoy thoroughly. It has me thinking: why do we love literature so? Why do we (those of us in this house, and you reading this) spend years — whole lives, really — investigating what language can do? I was going to go on a tirade, but...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Dear friends, At last, I write to you from the fairer shores of Canada. For a long time, we’ve held our breath for obvious political reasons. These last three years, my first time living outside of New Delhi, have been beautiful and freeing in more ways than I can count. But as a sociopolitical being the last few years have been horrible to witness. And arriving here, crossing that border, has felt like a really long and loud sigh. And since cursing clears the throat and cleans the head: Fuck...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Dear friends, Shannan here this time. Today's intro is a quick one and we'll tell you why probably next week (I know I know how coy of me right). In the meantime, if there are any of you out there who are poets wanting to be novelists, you might like this mini-guide of books I put together a couple months ago! And now onto our wonderful Poet of the Week + a new sub call! Until next time, Shannan Jonathan Chan Jonathan Chan is a writer, editor, and translator of poems and essays. His first...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear friends, These days are emotional. I had Bob (Hicok) visit the undergrad creative writing class I teach and my students had an amazing time conversing with him. Then I had Ana (our daughter) visit and it was another super-hit class. She loved answering questions and made everyone laugh a lot. They were all so kind to her and let her be herself. Having watched the Michael Jackson biopic a day before, and given how pure & sincere his love for children was, I wish he could’ve sat in on that...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Dear friends, This is a quick a reminder that the annual $5000 Poet of the Year Award is officially closing for submissions tomorrow at midnight. Send us the poems only you could have written! Submit now → If you've already submitted — yay & thank you! We're an indie, ad-free & reader-supported literary publication. We love platforming poets around the world & promoting the practice of poetry. Throughout the year, we have 22 open reading calls that are 100% free to submit to. And we pay...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read