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1. Letter from the Editors

Dear Readers,

This week our prose series continues with "Poems, Prose Poems, Decoy Selves," by D. Nurkse, from Poet Lore (Fall/Winter):

"How to distinguish among literary genres? My friend Robert Hershon quotes the following definition of the difference between poetry and fiction: 'Poets go to poets' parties, and fiction writers go to fiction writers' parties.'"

Look for it here.

Enjoy this week's poems!

Warmest regards,

Don Selby & Diane Boller

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2. Sponsor Messages

 2019 UNT Rilke Prize
The 2019 UNT Rilke Prize, a $10,000 award recognizing the artistry and vision of a collection written by a mid-career poet, is accepting submissions through November 30, 2018. The winner will visit the University of North Texas April 3-4, 2019.  Previous winners: Laura Kasischke, Paisley Rekdal, Katie Peterson, Mark Wunderlich, Rick Barot, Wayne Miller, and Allison Benis White.

 $1,000 and Book Publication from BkMk Press
Enter the annual John Ciardi Prize for Poetry and the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, awarded to the best collections of poetry and short fiction in English by a living author. Submission deadline: January 15, 2019. Click here for guidelines.

BkMk Press
University of Missouri-Kansas City
5101 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110

 Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins

Write the next chapter of an epic.
Talented faculty. Visiting writers. Writer-in-Residence.
Graduate Assistantships, Teaching Fellowships,
Travel Funding, and Full Scholarships. 

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
More than fifty years of achievement in poetry,
Fiction, and nonfiction. 

Bachelor of Arts with concentration or Minor in creative writing
Where students mature into authors. 

Most of all, a vibrant, supportive community.
https://hollinsmfa.wordpress.com/first-child/.

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3. Poetry News Links

News and reviews from around the web, updated daily:

• Kevin Hart reviews Richard Kearney’s Anatheistic Wager: Philosophy, Theology, Poetics, edited by Chris Doude van Troostwijk and Matthew Clemente, and The Art of Anatheism, edited by Matthew Clemente, Richard Kearney. (Los Angeles Review of Books)
• Rebecca Foust introduces "Switchblade" and "Imperatives in the Late 1940s, by Anne Harding Woodworth. (Women's Voices for Change)
• Recent books on Oscar Wilde reviewed by Kate Hext. (The Times Literary Supplement)
• Rita Dove introduces "Only as the Day Is Long," by Dorianne Laux. (The New York Times Magazine)
• Declan Ryan on the poetry of Hugo Williams. (Los Angeles Review of Books)
• David Dirda on After Emily: Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America’s Greatest Poet, by Julie Dobrow. (The Washington Post)
• Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Good-bye to All That (1895–1929), by Jean Moorcroft Wilson, reviewed by James Parker. (The Atlantic)
• And more...

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4. New Arrivals

These new arrivals are available for purchase via Poetry Daily/Amazon.com.

• The Word Pretty, Elisa Gabbert (Black Ocean)
• Dark Sister, Linda Rodriguez (Mammoth Publications)
• The Stella Poems: A Postmodern Astrophil & Stella, Duane Locke (Bitter Oleander Press)
• Lord of the Butterflies, Andrea Gibson (Button Poetry)
• May Is an Island, Jonathan Johnson (Carnegie Mellon University Press)
• Bad Harvest, Dzvinia Orlowsky (Carnegie Mellon University Press)
• The Turning, Ricardo Pau-Llosa (Carnegie Mellon University Press)
• No Beautiful, Anne Marie Rooney (Carnegie Mellon University Press)
• Imaginal Marriage, Eleanor Stanford (Carnegie Mellon University Press)
• Destruction of the Lover, Luis Panini, tr. Lawrence Schimel (Pleiades Press)
• The Wrong Country: Essays on Modern Irish Writing, Gerald Dawe (Irish Academic Press)
• Walking Backwards: Poems 1966-2016, John Koethe (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

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5. This Week’s Featured Poets

The work of the following poets will appear as Today's Poem on the days indicated:

Monday - Laura Kasishke
Tuesday - Idris Anderson
Wednesday - Andrea Cohen
Thursday - Julie Carr
Friday - Don Bogen
Saturday - David Lehman
Sunday - A. F. Moritz

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6. Featured Poets November 19 - November 25, 2018

These and other past featured poets may be found in our archive:

Monday - Jennifer Metsker
Tuesday - Cynthia Cruz
Wednesday - Tim Carrier
Thursday - Gabriella Torres
Friday - Layli Long Soldier
Saturday - Blanca Castellón
Sunday - Mary Donnelly

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7. Last Year’s Featured Poets

These poems will be retired from our archive during the coming week.

Dimitri Psurtsev / tr. Philip Metres, Two Poems
Lee Upton, "The Major Holidays"
Zackary Medlin, "Pareidolia as a Form of Contact (LGM-1)"
James Longenbach, "Huntington Meadow"
Angela Ball, "Phenomenal Body"
Maria Terrone, "New Wave: Post Op"
Moira Linehan, "Ars Poetica"

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8. Poem From Last Year

[Today, having swigged a half-liter]

Today, having swigged a half-liter
Of lemon vodka with a friend,
I, a vegetable garden crawler,
Take in the light of distant stars.

They are galaxies, I know,
But they seem like turnips to me:
He who sowed them, one day,
Will pull them out by the hair.

Today I saw how a guess
Staggered in the desert air—
Rain sprinkled on the dill
And vouchsafed to me:

I am here to live humbly,
Letting my root into infinity.
I am here to become powerless,
And, without power, become strong.

Dimitri Psurtsev
translated from the Russian by Philip Metres
Image
Number 94 / Fall 2017

Copyright © 2017 by Dimitri Psurtsev
Translation copyright © 2017 by Philip Metres
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission