Poetry Daily

Rainbow

Ardengo Soffici (translated from the Italian by Olivia E. Sears)

The day sinks into the scarlet basin of summer And there are no more words For that bridge of fire and jewels Youth you’ll pass like the end of every play Tant pis Never mind I’ll make myself a magnificent suit out of old posters

from the book Simultaneities and Lyric Chemisms / World Poetry Books

Essay: Elisa Gabbert writes on the beginnings of poems.
(NYT)
#pdnews
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/books/review/as-wallace-stevens-once-put-it-hi.html

Conversation: "I wanted to write a book about looking at the world."—Alex Dimitrov
(McSweeney's)
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Short Conversations with Poets: Alex Dimitrov

The poetry of Alex Dimitrov stays in the present. It’s the essence of contemporary. A living voice, an urban...

www.mcsweeneys.net

Obituary: "Linda Pastan, whose elegantly simple poems found beauty and, sometimes, pain in the ordinary sights and moments of life, died on Jan. 30 at her home in Chevy Chase, Md. She was 90."
(NYT)
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/books/linda-pastan-dead.html

Profile: Carmen Maria Machado speaks with Poet Laureate Ada Limón.
(Elle)
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Can Poetry Heal a Broken World?

Ada Limón, the first Latina poet laureate, believes that the power of words can help us navigate this time of crisis.

www.elle.com

Review: "For Andrew Fitzsimons, translating Matsuo Basho’s haiku was both a physical and internal journey."
(Japan Times)
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Matsuo Basho's complete works reveal the sensuality and innovation of a master poet

Andrew Fitzsimons offers carefully considered translations of the poet’s works, including his famous haiku about a...

www.japantimes.co.jp

Announcement: The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its 2022 awards.
(NBCC)
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NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR PUBLISHING YEAR 2022 - National Book Critics Circle

NBCC launches Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize and NBCC Service Award; Joy Harjo, City Lights receive lifetim...

www.bookcritics.org

Report: "[Limón's] poem, to be released in the coming months, will be engraved on the Europa Clipper spacecraft. It will travel 1.8 billion miles..."
(LOC Newsroom)
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A Voice Among the Stars: Poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Will Ride to Europa on NASA Spacecraft

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, who is known for work that explores the human connection to the natural world, is...

newsroom.loc.gov

Report: "Even the bathroom is devoted to literature, with black-and-white photographs of writers covering the ceiling and available wall space."
(Curbed)
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A Writer’s Book-Stuffed Greenwich Village Studio

A photo of Rimbaud looks down from the bathroom ceiling.

www.curbed.com

Review: "...the poet, fiction writer, and translator John Keene has gradually and unassumingly established himself as one of the preeminent writers of experimental literature in English."
(Chicago Review)
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On John Keene’s Punks

By Peter Myers

www.chicagoreview.org

Announcement: Heather Green has been named one of the winners of the inaugural Albertine Translation Prize.
(LitHub)
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Here are the winners of the first Albertine Translation Prize.

At a ceremony in New York on Thursday, Villa Albertine announced the winners of the first Albertine Translation Pr...

lithub.com

What Sparks Poetry

Translation

What Sparks Poetry is a serialized feature in which we invite poets to explore experiences and ideas that spark new poems.

In our series focused on Translation, we invite poet-translators to share seminal experiences in their practices, bringing poems from one language into another. How does the work of translating feel essential to the writing of one’s own poetry? Our contributors reflect on inspiring moments as intricate as a grammatical quirk and as wide-ranging as the history or politics of another place.

This week's issue: Olivia E. Sears on Ardengo Soffici’s “Rainbow”

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The day I cried for Baudelai re I had been drinking a little the discovery that th ere is no orthodoxy — it took place in wh ich hotel room?

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B&W Photo of Dana Levin by B.A. Van Sise — Dana Levin

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