We seek out poetry because we seek in this completely subjective form some kernel of beauty and truth. And so for me, friendship is poetic, and it is lyric, because it does that, and it is mysterious why when a friend mirrors to you what they think you are – it works.
THE EARTH IS FOREVER GOOEY: a conversation with Jenny Zhang Read More »
If we want our writing to have agency, if we want it to be part of the struggle to make a new and better world, I think it’s important to take a step back and examine our motivations as writers. How does the capitalist system influence the choices we make as writers?
Mark Nowak on Why We Write Read More »
I think of poetry as a conversation that started way before me that I am now as a practicing poet, that you are joining as a practicing poet, that will continue without us.
Patterns and Breaking: A Conversation with Eduardo Corral Read More »
Why I Chose It: Michigan Quarterly Review Reader David Freeman introduces Charlie Clark’s poem, “Devil Always Thought Pelagius Was a Second-Rate Christian,” from our Fall 2020 Issue. When I read Charlie Clark’s virtuosic poem, “Devil Always Thought Pelagius Was a Second-Rate Christian,” I am conflicted. To be clear, I am not conflicted about the poem’s content — it is
Devil Always Thought Pelagius Was a Second-Rate Christian Read More »
Pain Log #2: Letter to My Sister I listen to Arvo Pärt’s sacred music and think of his native Estonia, which reminds me of that Tallinn lawyer and historian whom I met one November at the American Academy in Rome. She wore an outlandish costume for our communal dinners—mauve taffeta suit with matching hat—and she
“I wanted the book to feel truthful and draw from what I have observed about society.”
Stories Worth Telling: An Interview with Megha Majumdar Read More »
“We readers are watching Gay watching a video clip as he curates a personal museum exhibit that is part memoir and part historical monument.”
Witnessing the Unwitnessable: On Be Holding by Ross Gay Read More »
In 2013, Indian American poet, editor, and professor Ravi Shankar was sentenced to a 90-day pretrial detention at Hartford Correctional Center, a level 4 high-security urban jail, for violating his probation for a DUI offense by driving while his license was suspended. During that time, he became the first American academic to be promoted while
Read an excerpt from Ahmed Naji’s “A Rot of Evidence” from our Fall 2020 issue on Persecution. Join us on November 21st to see Naji and contributors from MQR and Sukoon Magazine read virtually at the Arab American National Museum. RSVP here. I carried the green bag containing the clothes they allowed me to keep
A Rot of Evidence: A Journal of Reading and Writing in Prison Read More »
