Poetry and Prose We Love!
In our celebration of literature, we spotlight the poets, short fiction writers, and novelists who have shaped modern storytelling, offering fresh perspectives on history, culture, and the human experience. The following writers—many of them former Poet Laureates—have not only enriched American letters but also carved out unique spaces for their voices to be heard, from lyrical poetry to deeply resonant novels. Their works share common landscapes, histories, and cultural legacies that continue to inspire readers today.
Poet Laureates
Robert Pinsky
A three-term United States Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky’s career has been defined by a commitment to bringing poetry to the public. His notable collection, The Figured Wheel, reflects his deep connection to language as both music and meaning, with poems that explore history, culture, and identity. Pinsky’s Poetry Project, where thousands of Americans recited their favorite poems, remains a hallmark of his laureateship, underscoring his belief that poetry is a communal art form.
Tracy K. Smith
Serving as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019, Tracy K. Smith brought a thoughtful, visionary voice to the role. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Life on Mars juxtaposes the vastness of space with the intimacy of personal and historical memory, highlighting the contradictions of the human experience. Smith’s tenure as laureate included efforts to bring poetry to rural communities, using her work to engage with American history and civil rights.
Kay Ryan
Known for her brief, witty, and sharply precise poems, Kay Ryan served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 2008 to 2010. Her poetry, often filled with wordplay and aphorisms, reflects on the inner workings of thought and language. Ryan’s ability to distill complex emotions into a few lines has garnered her a wide readership, and her tenure as laureate was marked by efforts to make poetry more accessible and inclusive.
Charles Wright
As a Poet Laureate of the United States, Charles Wright is known for his deep meditations on nature, time, and the spiritual realm. His celebrated collection, Scar Tissue, evokes a sense of the eternal within the fleeting, blending vivid imagery with contemplative lyricism. Wright’s poetry often seeks the divine in the natural world, making his voice one of the most profoundly philosophical in contemporary American poetry.
Poets
Eileen Myles
A celebrated poet and LGBTQ+ activist, Eileen Myles’ work defies convention with its raw honesty and immediacy. Myles’ poetry spans four decades, marked by their ability to capture the political and personal. In collections like Not Me and I Must Be Living Twice, Myles weaves together pop culture, queerness, and the complexities of American life, offering a voice that is unapologetically unique.
Bianca Stone
As both a poet and visual artist, Bianca Stone blends mediums to create works that are as visually striking as they are emotionally resonant. Her collection Someone Else’s Wedding Vows explores themes of love, loss, and memory with a fluidity that connects poetry to art. Stone’s exploration of grief and identity, combined with her visual art, creates a multidimensional experience for readers.
Katie Condon
A rising voice in contemporary poetry, Katie Condon is known for her collection Praying Naked, which navigates the intersection of sensuality, spirituality, and womanhood. Her poems balance intimacy with existential questioning, drawing readers into a deeply personal exploration of self and belief. Condon’s mastery of form and language positions her as one of poetry’s most exciting new voices.
Aria Aber
Aber’s debut collection Hard Damage explores her Afghan heritage through the lens of personal and collective memory. Aber deftly intertwines narratives of war, displacement, and family with a sharp lyrical voice, reflecting on identity and the costs of survival. Her poetry resonates with the stories of those who have experienced the dislocation of war, offering a poignant, reflective voice in contemporary poetry.
Natasha Trethewey
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey’s work is a blend of personal history and historical excavation. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Native Guard, Trethewey delves into the racial history of the American South, using poetry to explore themes of memory, loss, and legacy. Trethewey’s verse brings to life the untold stories of marginalized voices, cementing her place among the most significant poets of our time.
Short Fiction Writers
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain’s work is rooted in specificity, striving to push beyond the reductive generalizations often imposed on Native experiences in mainstream American literature. A proud member of the Blackfeet Nation, he emphasizes the importance of writing with an authentic lens, focusing on the intricacies of his community rather than attempting to represent an overarching ‘Native experience.’ “The second you try to write about the ‘Native experience’ instead of the Blackfeet, Crow, Apache, or Spokane, what you’re actually doing is recapitulating the American idea of the Indian in a way that is problematic and troubling,” he notes. HolyWhiteMountain’s focus is on capturing the individual and communal realities of the Blackfeet, avoiding the homogenization often seen in depictions of Indigenous peoples.
His storytelling is deeply personal and emotional, informed by his upbringing on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. Reflecting on the lack of Native representation in literature, he recalls the moment he encountered Sherman Alexie’s first book of short stories: “When everything you read growing up represents something other than what you know, you begin to believe that you don’t exist.” This realization profoundly shaped his approach to writing. For him, art is about emotion and interiority, an antidote to the colonial depictions of Native people as external, surface-level figures. “Native people almost never have interiors… That is a colonial view,” HolyWhiteMountain states, underlining his mission to reclaim and express the inner lives of Native characters.
As a writer, HolyWhiteMountain moves between fiction and nonfiction, with his nonfiction often addressing political issues, while his fiction delves into the emotional landscapes of his characters. His stories do not shy away from the complexities of identity, but instead embrace the particularity of Blackfeet life and relationships. “There’s a network of relationships that span all of Indian country,” he explains, pointing to the deep connections that exist among Native communities, stretching across borders and down into Mexico.
In addition to his creative work, HolyWhiteMountain is an educator, having taught at Stanford University and held fellowships at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Wisconsin. Currently, he is a fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, where he continues to develop his first novel. His writing stands as a testament to the power of specificity in storytelling, inviting readers to see Native life not as a monolithic experience but as a rich tapestry of individual and communal narratives.
HolyWhiteMountain’s stories serve as a counterpoint to the myth of the ‘vanishing Indian,’ challenging readers to rethink their understanding of Indigenous existence in America. His unique perspective, shaped by both his personal history and a deep commitment to truth in storytelling, marks him as a significant voice in contemporary literature.
Clare Sestanovich
Sestanovich’s debut collection Objects of Desire explores the intricacies of relationships, identity, and the quiet moments that shape our lives. Her stories reflect a keen observation of human nature, with characters navigating personal dilemmas in the face of societal expectations. Sestanovich’s writing is elegant, controlled, and emotionally rich, offering a fresh perspective on modern short fiction.
Novelists
Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich, born in 1954, is one of the most celebrated voices in contemporary American literature, known for her powerful exploration of Native American life, identity, and resilience. A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Erdrich’s work has been pivotal in shaping the Native American Renaissance, blending personal narratives with political and historical contexts to create richly layered stories that speak to the complexities of Indigenous experiences.
Erdrich’s career began in poetry, but it was her debut novel, Love Medicine (1984), that launched her to national prominence, winning the National Book Critics Circle Award and establishing her as a major literary figure. The novel, set in an Ojibwe community, introduced readers to Erdrich’s hallmark style: interwoven narratives, multigenerational family sagas, and a deep connection to place. This structure became a hallmark of her writing, with many of her novels—such as The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988), and The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001)—sharing interconnected characters and settings that echo the complexity and interconnectedness of Ojibwe history and culture.
In 2012, Erdrich won the National Book Award for The Round House, a gripping novel that addresses the traumatic impact of sexual violence against Native women. The book is not only a coming-of-age story but also a poignant commentary on the legal injustices faced by Native communities. This novel, like much of her work, is a testament to Erdrich’s ability to blend the personal and political, addressing pressing social issues while remaining grounded in intimate human experiences. Critics have praised her for creating characters that are fully realized and deeply human, while also confronting the broader cultural and legal challenges faced by Native peoples.
Erdrich’s exploration of Native American life extends beyond her adult fiction into children’s literature and poetry. Her Birchbark House series, aimed at younger readers, offers a Native perspective on pioneer life, presenting a counter-narrative to the Little House on the Prairie stories, which often romanticized westward expansion. Through these books, she provides a more nuanced and historically accurate depiction of Indigenous experiences for a younger audience, contributing to the decolonization of children’s literature.
A constant thread throughout her body of work is the theme of cultural survival. Erdrich’s characters often grapple with questions of identity, heritage, and belonging, navigating the tension between tradition and modernity. Her writing evokes the struggles of maintaining cultural continuity in the face of colonization, assimilation, and systemic oppression, while also celebrating the enduring strength and adaptability of Native communities.
In addition to her prolific writing career, Erdrich is also the owner of Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore in Minneapolis that serves as a hub for Native American literature and cultural education. Through this endeavor, she continues her advocacy for Indigenous voices, supporting Native authors and providing a space for their stories to be told and heard.
Erdrich has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2021 for The Night Watchman, a novel inspired by her grandfather’s efforts to fight the U.S. government’s termination policy in the 1950s. This work underscores Erdrich’s deep commitment to historical accuracy and her ability to weave personal family history into broader cultural narratives. The novel is both a tribute to her ancestors and a reminder of the ongoing struggles for Native sovereignty and rights.
A true literary giant, Louise Erdrich’s contributions to literature transcend genres and audiences, creating a body of work that resonates across generations. Her stories not only illuminate the Native American experience but also offer universal insights into family, survival, and the human spirit. Through her writing, she has given voice to marginalized histories and has become a key figure in ensuring that the stories of Indigenous peoples continue to be told with dignity, depth, and truth.
Thomas McGuane
Born in 1939, Thomas McGuane is a celebrated novelist, screenwriter, and essayist whose work delves deeply into the complexities of human nature and the rugged beauty of the American West. With ten novels, including The Sporting Club (1969), The Bushwhacked Piano (1971), and Ninety-Two in the Shade (1973), McGuane’s prose is known for its sharp wit, satirical edge, and vivid portrayals of disillusioned characters grappling with failure, isolation, and redemption. His ability to marry dark humor with profound insights into human frailty has earned him a distinct place in American letters, with many considering him one of the most original voices of his generation.
McGuane’s novels often explore the tension between personal ambition and the harsh realities of life in the American West. His early works, including The Sporting Club and The Bushwhacked Piano, established him as a daring, iconoclastic writer unafraid to challenge traditional narratives. These novels combine absurdist humor with biting social commentary, critiquing the pursuit of the American Dream through the misadventures of misfit characters. Ninety-Two in the Shade, a finalist for the National Book Award, remains one of McGuane’s most iconic works, a meditation on existential angst set against the backdrop of Key West.
Though much of his fiction is anchored in satire, McGuane’s work often reflects a deep reverence for nature, especially the untamed landscapes of Montana, where he has lived for decades. This love of the outdoors is also evident in his nonfiction, particularly The Longest Silence (2000), a collection of essays that chronicles his lifelong passion for fly fishing. In these essays, McGuane masterfully captures the meditative qualities of the sport, infusing his reflections with philosophical musings on life, mortality, and the natural world. His nonfiction is a testament to his belief in the redemptive power of nature, offering a quieter, more contemplative side to his otherwise boisterous literary persona.
McGuane’s 1978 novel Panama holds a special place in his oeuvre, considered by the author to be his most personal and significant work. Loosely autobiographical, Panama explores the unraveling of an emotionally troubled musician in the aftermath of a failed marriage, with McGuane’s biting wit tempered by a more introspective tone. The novel’s portrayal of mental illness, heartbreak, and existential longing marks a departure from his earlier, more overtly comedic works, offering a raw and unflinching look at personal disintegration. Despite its initial critical reception, McGuane regards Panama as his finest work, and it has since gained a cult following for its introspective depth and stylistic boldness.
In addition to his fiction, McGuane has had a successful career as a screenwriter, contributing to films like Rancho Deluxe (1975) and The Missouri Breaks (1976), the latter starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. His work in Hollywood, while less celebrated than his literary career, showcases his versatility as a storyteller and his ability to navigate the complexities of both the written word and visual media. McGuane’s screenplays often share thematic elements with his novels, particularly his focus on the disillusionment of modern life and the transformative potential of wilderness.
Over the course of his career, McGuane has garnered numerous accolades, including the prestigious Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and induction into the Academy itself. His literary contributions span genres, from satire and dark comedy to contemplative essays on nature, making him a multifaceted writer whose work continues to resonate with readers. With his incisive portrayals of flawed characters and his evocative descriptions of the American West, Thomas McGuane stands as a vital and enduring voice in American literature.
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Conclusion
The authors featured here—whether Poet Laureates, promising poets, short story writers, or accomplished novelists—share a commitment to exploring the complexities of human life. From the lyrical beauty of poetry to the intimate narratives of short fiction and the expansive storytelling of novels, these voices remind us of the transformative power of words. As they delve into themes of identity, history, and personal experience, they enrich our understanding of the world and continue to inspire future generations of readers and writers.
Poem of Names
By Robert Pinsky
October 7, 2019
A new poem by Robert Pinsky (published in the October 14, 2019 issue of New Yorker Magazine).
The chains of begats and births, the chains of names
Are meaning itself. The chains of deaths and doings.
The black rain fell on Osamu Shimomura.
On the walk home, it turned his white shirt black.
“My grandmother got me quickly into a bath.
It likely saved me from death by radiation.”
Tougaloo’s Ernst Borinski would not discuss
His family, killed by Nazis: “An area I
Have liquidated, for my mental health.”
His grave at Tougaloo a kind of shrine.
Salma begat Obed and Obed begat Boaz.
Underground rivers of passion and retrenchment.
Thank you, Elliot, Simon & Hazel, for wanting
To talk with me about my dying someday-
Catfish had been so cold when you touched his body.
A compliment for me, that conversation.
It almost doesn’t matter what we said.
I thought of Milford, your great-grandpa, that time
I asked him, did he believe in life after death?
“I guess that you are my life after death, ” he said.
A boy named Christian, at a Q&A in Texas,
Asked me, the visiting poet, “What motivates you-
What gets you out of bed each day? Good question.
Willie Lee Rose, Historian of Reconstruction.
Micheline Dumont-Ugeux, Belgian Resistance
(The Nazis killed her family as well, she ran
An underground that saved American pilots).
Congressman Pellegrino Rodino, called Pete.
It’s the dead people, the ones whose names I need
To tell you, Christian—that’s what motivates me.
Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats.
The shame of Nathan Forrest, of Fort Pillow.
The pride of Ernst Borinski, of Mississippi.
Joyce Lander, his student. Christian looks it up.
As to your name, I remember Don Polk saying
“A lot of Jewish people think they’re white
But no they’re not.” In some ways, Yeats was a jerk.
Arphaxad begat Salah; Salah begat Eber.
“Oh yeah?” said Ruby to Don, “Well, most black people
Don’t know they’re goyim.”
Somebody said about
Rodino and Sirica, “The night-school guys
Are saving the country.” Borinski needed a job
But no white school could offer him a position–
Tougaloo did. At his famous Forums there,
He asked his students to sit one chair apart
so the white kids from Millsaps sat among them.
Pete Seeger, Ralph Bunche, Joan Baez at the Forums.
Rodino in the House impeaching Nixon.
Pellegrino means pilgrim.
Shimomura
Discovered cells that made a jellyfish glow.
He garnered a million samples in Puget Sound.
A protein in Aequorea victoria, embedded
To glimmer in other life, transformed the study
Of living things. Years later, the Exxon Valdez
Oil spill left nearly all those Aequora dead,
A poisoning that Shimomura indicted—-
He whose grandma had washed away the ashes.
—Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky – Samurai Song
Poem by Robert Pinsky
“Samurai Song”
When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.
When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.
When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.
When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.
Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.
[Part 5 of 6] From “The Art of Poetry” online course with Robert Pinsky on edX. Robert Pinsky (vocals), Laurence Hobgood (keyboard), Stan Strickland (flute), and John Lockwood (bass) perform the poem “Samurai Song,” by Robert Pinsky. This performance takes place in Chapter 6: Music and Poetry. Filmed at the Boston University Playwrights’ Theater on March 11, 2013.
Peers
By Craig Morgan Teicher
I’m thinking of you beautiful
and young, of me young
and confused and maybe
beautiful. There were lots of us—
these were our twenties, when,
post-9/11, we were about to
inherit the world, and we had no idea
what to do with it. And look
what we did, and we didn’t.
And now look at us, and it.
We turned away for a blip, started
whispering, kissing, had kids,
bought houses changed bulbs,
submitted claims changed channels,
FaceTimed, streamed, upgraded,
were two-day-shipped to, and midway
through our prime earning years
we look up again, decades groggy,
decades late. Forgive us, we thought—
but now it doesn’t matter. These are our
outcomes, consequences, faults,
forties, when the hourglass
is beeping and bleak and people
like us have memories like this
and wonder if the beauty that’s left
is really still beautiful, if it was.
Published in the print edition of the April 5, 2021, issue.
Craig Morgan Teicher is the author of, most recently, the poetry collection “Welcome to Sonnetville, New Jersey.”
Featherweight by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain: A Voice Worth Listening To
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain’s short story Featherweight is an exercise in powerful, stripped-down storytelling that commands attention from the first sentence. Read by the author himself on NewYorker.com, this piece is not poetry, though its prose carries a lyrical quality that resonates deeply. HolyWhiteMountain’s writing cuts through the noise, making you sit up and listen—a clear, authentic voice that feels both fresh and necessary.
In Featherweight, HolyWhiteMountain brings a unique narrative voice that is unmistakably his own. He navigates themes of identity, loss, and belonging with a rawness and clarity that steer clear of sentimentality. There’s a cadence to his storytelling that feels as if it’s been honed over countless conversations, capturing the rhythm of thought and dialogue in a way that feels profoundly true to life. His voice is distinct—not something you can easily liken to others, and it’s this singularity that makes the experience of listening to him all the more compelling.
This is not a story to play in the background while you multitask. HolyWhiteMountain’s delivery invites, even demands, active listening. The narrative unfolds over 29 minutes and 28 seconds, a tight space in which he manages to weave a narrative that feels expansive, touching on the deeply personal while echoing larger cultural and social undercurrents. It’s storytelling that feels both intimate and expansive, specific yet universal.
Featherweight stands as a testament to what modern short fiction can achieve—a narrative that resonates with authenticity and emotional precision. It’s a reminder of the power of a well-told story, especially when delivered in the voice of its creator. So, quiet the distractions, lock the door, and give Sterling HolyWhiteMountain’s Featherweight the time it deserves. You won’t be disappointed.
Feature “Featherweight”
“Sometimes the irony is so great that the irony turns into cherry pie: I met Allie on the first day of Native American Heritage Month.”
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain reads his story from the April 5, 2021, issue of the magazine. HolyWhiteMountain is a former Stegner Fellow and current Jones Lecturer at Stanford University. He is an unrecognized citizen of the Blackfeet Nation. He is at work on a novel.
False Star Read by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain March 13, 2023
Clare Sestanovich Reads “You Tell Me”
Clare Sestanovich reads her story “You Tell Me,” from the August 1, 2022, issue of the magazine. Sestanovich was named a “5 Under 35” honoree by the National Book Foundation in 2022. Her début story collection, “Objects of Desire,” which came out last year, was a finalist for the pen/Robert W. Bingham Prize.
Eileen Myles joins Kevin Young to read “Without” by Joy Harjo and their poem “Dissolution.” Myles has published more than twenty books of poetry and prose. Their honors include the Publishing Triangle’s 2020 Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, multiple Lambda Literary Awards, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Arthur Sze accepts the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry for Sight Lines
Arthur Sze in Conversation with Prof. Khaled Mattawa. (Zell Visiting Writers Series)
Arthur Sze is a poet, translator, and editor who recently won the National Book Award. He has published ten books of poetry, including Sight Lines, Compass Rose, The Ginkgo Light, Quipu, The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998, and Archipelago, all from Copper Canyon Press. He has also published The Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese and edited Chinese Writers on Writing. A bilingual Chinese/English selected poem, Pig’s Heaven Inn, was published in Beijing, and he has also collaborated with sculptor Susan York to create a book and installation, The Unfolding Center. Known for his difficult, meticulous poems, Sze’s work has been described as the “intersection of Taoist contemplation, Zen rock gardens, and postmodern experimentation” by the critic John Tricia. The poet Dana Levin described Sze as “a poet of what I would call Deep Noticing, a strong lineage in American poetry… Dispassionate presentation of ‘the thing itself is its prevailing attribute, yet Sze’s attention is capacious; it’s attracted to paradox; it takes facing opponents and seats them side by side.” In addition, K. Michel, a Dutch poet writing for Poetry International says, “Sze’s work is characterized by its unusual combination of images and ideas, and by the surprising way in which he makes connections between diverse aspects of the world. In his poetry, he combines images from urban life and nature, ideas from modern astronomy and Chinese philosophy as well as anecdotes from rural and industrial America. In this way, he creates texts that capture and reflect the complexity of reality.” Sze’s many awards include The Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, a Lannan Literary Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing fellowships, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, and five grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. From 2012-2017, he served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and, in 2017, was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Farolitos
Farolitos
We pour sand into brown lunch bags, then place
a votive candle
inside each; at night, lined along the driveway,
the flickering lights
form a spirit way, but what spirit? what way?
We sight the flames
and, swaying within, know the future’s fathomless;
we grieve, yearn, joy,
pinpoints in greater darkness, and spy sunlight
brighten craters
on a half-lit moon; in this life, you may try, try
to light, a match, fail,
fail again and again; yet, letting go, you strike
a tip one more time
when it bursts into flame— now the flames
are lights in bags again,
and we glimpse the willow tips clutch at a lunar
promise of spring.
Thomas McGuane Reads “Balloons”
Thomas McGuane reads his story from the May 10, 2021, issue of the magazine. McGuane has published more than a dozen books of fiction, including the story collections “Gallatin Canyon,” “Crow Fair,” and “Cloudbursts: Collected and New Stories,” which came out in 2018.
Thomas McGuane is one of my most beloved contemporary authors. I began with 92 degrees in the shade and kept reading thru Bushwacked Piano, Panama, Nobody’s Angel, Nothing But Blue Skies, Keep the Change.
Thomas McGuane is an American author known for his novels, short stories, and essays that often explore themes of rural life, the American West, and human relationships. Here’s a more detailed overview of his background and contributions:
Early Life and Education: Thomas McGuane was born on December 11, 1939, in Wyandotte, Michigan. He grew up in Michigan and attended Michigan State University, where he studied English and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1962. After graduating, McGuane moved to Montana, where he began his writing career and became immersed in the culture and landscape of the American West.
Literary Career: McGuane’s literary career took off in the 1960s and 1970s with the publication of his early novels, which often depicted the lives of drifters, outcasts, and eccentric characters in the rural West. His writing is characterized by its sharp wit, dark humor, and keen observation of human behavior. McGuane’s novels and stories are known for their vivid descriptions of the natural world and their exploration of themes such as identity, masculinity, and the search for meaning in modern society.
Notable Works: Some of Thomas McGuane’s notable works include “The Sporting Club” (1969), “Ninety-Two in the Shade” (1973), “Nobody’s Angel” (1981), “Keep the Change” (2005), and “Driving on the Rim” (2010). His novels often feature memorable characters caught up in bizarre and often humorous situations, and they frequently incorporate elements of fly-fishing, a passion of McGuane’s.
Screenwriting and Film: In addition to his work as a novelist and short story writer, Thomas McGuane has also been involved in screenwriting and filmmaking. He wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his novel “92 in the Shade” (1975), directed by Nicholas Roeg. McGuane has also worked on other film projects and collaborated with directors such as Peter Fonda and Sam Peckinpah.
Legacy and Influence: Thomas McGuane is considered one of the most important writers of contemporary American literature, particularly in the tradition of Western and rural fiction. His work has inspired generations of writers and readers with its distinctive voice, vivid imagery, and incisive exploration of the human condition. McGuane’s writing continues to be celebrated for its literary merit and its portrayal of the complexities and contradictions of life in the American West.
Overall, Thomas McGuane’s contributions to literature have left a lasting impact on the literary landscape, earning him recognition as a master storyteller and chronicler of the American experience.
The Way Things Were Up Until Now
By Bianca Stone
I am bored of all the excuses.
Bored as Mayakovsky
at the Finnish painters’ exhibition
barking like a dog through the foreign minister’s toast
until he cried and sat down. Deadly serious.
I am bored as an elegy. I mean,
why care at all, speaking as a pitfall
in a world of pits. But we do. To the death.
We all agree to garden this year.
And my raspberry bushes,
picked over by wrens—
I’ll make them great again
and let America go wild.
It’ll be all trumpets and leeks and lilacs
from here on out.
Let’s stop paying for it, get it free.
Let’s plan our victory gardens to supplement grief,
boost morale, as though something new
and uncontrolled were available—
it is the original new hot future joy.
We’re making it out of dough.
And the illusion of separateness,
let it go back into remission.
Just look at you—you look
like a resurrected child.
A serious drama in a cosmic joke.
Scarred, masked, dangerous.
And what of the new Eucharist?
How hungry I always am. How I long to lack.
Though in Walmart
my heart beats a little faster.
I want the world to heal up.
And the world is a field—as if it were indeed flat, curving
and caving, as if it were a piece of paper,
a Gustave Doré engraving
from the Divina Commedia,
the one with the silhouettes of Dante and Beatrice
standing in front of the blinding
exploding white rose
that you realize when looking more closely
is all made up of bodies and wings twisting together;
the “saintly throng,” they call it, mashed and hurtling,
an image of Heaven, and the creation of angels, though it is
frenzied as any image of Hell, around a divine nipple,
Odin’s lost eye in the well, the drain to the other side,
joy that gets more frantic
the more you try to quiet it down.
Published in the print edition of the April 26 & May 3, 2021, New Yorker Magazine issue.
Bianca Stone is the author of “The Möbius Strip Club of Grief.” Her forthcoming collection is “What Is Otherwise Infinite.”
Louise Erdrich’s ‘The Sentence’ explores racial tensions in a divided Minneapolis.
2020 was a time of upheaval in Minneapolis — from the pandemic to the police killing of George Floyd. A new novel, ‘The Sentence,’ by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Minneapolis resident Louise Erdrich, reflects on that tumultuous period. Jeffrey Brown reports for our ongoing arts and culture series, CANVAS.
This House
When the rain begins, I wake up.
The night air is somehow bright.
With more grace than I have, the world
receives the downpour. By now, I am at my window, watching petals
from the weeping cherry gather darkly
in the whirlpool by the storm drain. Behind me, the husband sleeps.
I want to believe this is not unlike
how it felt to lie awake in the womb:
water abounding; breath somewhere in the distance; the whole world
dark and full of muddled sound— not knowing that you’ll have to leave this house someday. That when
you do, water will collapse from a kind of sky. It will wake everyone.
Published in the print edition of April 19, 2021, New Yorker Magazine print edition.
Katie Condon, an assistant professor of English at Southern Methodist University, is the author of “Praying Naked,” a book of poems.
An Interview with Katie Condon
I was lucky enough to get to talk with poet and academic Katie Condon about her new poetry collection Praying Naked. In the interview, Katie delves into what made her begin to write poetry, why it’s often a refuge for her, and just what it means to make poetry today. Her work encompasses so many different aspects ranging from an unflinching look at sexuality and desire to challenging the narrative handed down to women through the generations.
Lunch Poems – Aria Aber
We Feel Now a Largeness Coming On
By Tracy K. Smith
November 16, 2020
Being called all manner of things
from the Dictionary of Shame—
not English, not words, not heard,
but worn, borne, carried, never spent—
we feel now a largeness coming on,
something passing into us. We know
not in what source it was begun, but
rapt, we watch it rise through our fallen,
our slain, our millions dragged, chained.
Like daylight, setting leaves alight—
green to gold to blinding white.
Like a spirit caught. Flame-in-flesh.
I watched a woman try to shake it, once,
from her shoulders and hips. A wild
annihilating fright. Other women
formed a wall around her, holding back
what clamored to rise. God. Devil.
Ancestor. What Black bodies carry
through your schools, your cities.
Do you see how mighty you’ve made us,
all these generations running?
Every day steeling ourselves against it.
Every day coaxing it back into coils.
And all the while feeding it.
And all the while loving it.
Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith Inaugural Reading
Tracy K. Smith gave her inaugural reading as the 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. She was joined by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, who opened the event with an original poem.
Speaker Biography: Tracy K. Smith was born in Falmouth, Mass. in 1972 and raised in Fairfield, Calif. She is the author of three books of poetry, including “Life on Mars,” winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; “Duende,” winner of the 2006 James Laughlin Award and the 2008 Essence Literary Award; and “The Body’s Question,” winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Smith is also the author of a memoir, “Ordinary Light,” a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Nonfiction and selected as a Notable Book by The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her fourth poetry collection, “Wade in the Water,” will be published in 2018.
Tracy K. Smith served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019 and is now chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. A Pulitzer Prize winner for her 2011 collection, “Life on Mars,” she here reads “The United States Welcomes You” from her latest collection of poetry, “Wade in the Water: Poems” (Graywolf). Her recent anthology is “American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time” (Graywolf).
Afghan Funeral in Paris by Aria aber
The aunts here clink Malbec glasses
and parade their grief with musky, expensive scents
that whisper in elevators and hallways.
Each natural passing articulates
the unnatural: every aunt has a son
who fell, or a daughter who hid in the rubble
for two years, until that knock of officers
holding a bin bag filled with a dress
and bones. But what do I know?
I get pedicures and eat madeleines
while reading “Swann’s Way.” When I tell
one aunt I’d like to go back,
she screams It is not yours to want.
Have some cream cheese with that, says another.
Oh, what wonder to be alive and see
my father’s footprints in his sister’s garden.
He’s furiously scissoring the hyacinths,
saying All the time when the tele-researcher asks him
How often do you think your life
is a mistake? During the procession, the aunts’ wails
vibrate wires full of crows in heavy wind.
I hate every plumed minute of it. God invented
everything out of nothing, but the nothing
shines through, said Paul Valéry. Paris never charmed me,
but when some stranger asks
if it stinks in Afghanistan, I am so shocked
that I hug him. And he lets me,
his ankles briefly brushing against mine.
Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award
Black Zodiac offers poems suffused with spiritual longing—lyrical meditations on faith, religion, heritage, and morality. The poems also explore aging and mortality with restless grace. Approaching his vast subjects by way of small moments, Wright magnifies details to reveal truths much larger than the quotidian happenings that engendered them. His is an astonishing, flexible, domestic-yet-universal verse. As the critic Helen Vendler has observed, Wright is a poet who “sounds like nobody else.”
Description
Co-winner of the 1983 National Book Award for Poetry, Country Music is comprised of eighty-eight poems selected from Charles Wright’s first four books published between 1970 and 1977. From his first book, The Grave of the Right Hand, to the extraordinary China Trace, this selection of early works represents “Charles Wright’s grand passions: his desire to reclaim and redeem a personal past, to make a reckoning with his present, and to conjure the terms by which we might face the future,” writes David St. John in the forward. These poems, powerful and moving in their own right, lend richness and insight to Wright’s recently collected later works. “In Country Music we see the same explosive imagery, the same dismantled and concentric (or parallel) narratives, the same resolutely spiritual concerns that have become so familiar to us in Wright’s more recent poetry,” writes St. John.
Robert Pinsky reads his poetry to improvised jazz at Monmouth University in his hometown of Long Branch, New Jersey. State of the Arts takes a tour ‘round the old neighborhood with Pinsky, who says all his poetry started here. Pinsky also says he became a poet only after it became clear he wouldn’t make it as a musician. He performs with bassist Ben Allison and guitarist Steve Cardenas.
Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins comes a twelfth collection of poetry offering over fifty new poems that showcase the generosity, wit, and imaginative play that prompted The Wall Street Journal to call him “America’s favorite poet.”
Candle Hat by Billy Collins, poet laureate from 2001-’03
In most self-portraits it is the face that dominates:
Cezanne is a pair of eyes swimming in brushstrokes,
Van Gogh stares out of a halo of swirling darkness,
Rembrandt looks relieved as if he were taking a breather
from painting The Blinding of Sampson.
But in this one, Goya stands well back from the mirror
and is seen posed in the clutter of his studio
addressing a canvas tilted back on a tall easel.
He appears to be smiling out at us as if he knew
we would be amused by the extraordinary hat on his head
which is fitted around the brim with candle holders,
a device that allowed him to work into the night.
You can only wonder what it would be like
to be wearing such a chandelier on your head
as if you were a walking dining room or concert hall.
But once you see this hat there is no need to read
any biography of Goya or to memorize his dates.
To understand Goya you only have to imagine him
lighting the candles one by one, then placing
the hat on his head, ready for a night of work.
Imagine him surprising his wife with his new invention,
the laughing like a birthday cake when she saw the glow.
Imagine him flickering through the rooms of his house
with all the shadows flying across the walls.
Imagine a lost traveler knocking on his door
one dark night in the hill country of Spain.
“Come in, ” he would say, “I was just painting myself,”
as he stood in the doorway holding up the wand of a brush,
illuminated in the blaze of his famous candle hat.
Lifesaving Poems: Charles Wright’s ‘After Reading Tu Fu, I Go …
Anthony Wilson
Charles Wright: After Reading Tu Fu, I Go Outside To The Dwarf Orchard
East of me, west of me, full summer.
How deeper than elsewhere the dusk is in your own yard.
Birds fly back and forth across the lawn
looking for home
As night drifts up like a little boat.
Day after day, I become of less use to myself.
Like this mockingbird,
I flit from one thing to the next.
What do I have to look forward to at fifty-four?
Tomorrow is dark.
Day-after-tomorrow is darker still.
The sky dogs are whimpering.
Fireflies are dragging the hush of evening
up from the damp grass.
Into the world’s tumult, into the chaos of every day,
Go quietly, quietly.
Our favorite Poems of our Poet Laureates
Kay Ryan
Cloud by Kay Ryan, Poet Laureate from 2008-’10
A blue stain
creeps across
the deep pile
of the evergreens.
From inside the
forest it seems
like an interior
matter, something
wholly to do
with trees, a color
passed from one
to another, a
requirement
to which they
submit unflinchingly
like soldiers or
brave people
getting older.
Then the sun
comes back and
it’s totally over.
History Lesson By Natasha Trethewey, poet laureate from 2012-present
I am four in this photograph, standing
on a wide strip of Mississippi beach,
my hands on the flowered hips
of a bright bikini. My toes dig in,
curl around wet sand. The sun cuts
the rippling Gulf in flashes with each
tidal rush. Minnows dart at my feet
Natasha Trethewey
glinting like switchblades. I am alone
except for my grandmother, other side
of the camera, telling me how to pose.
It is 1970, two years after they opened
the rest of this beach to us,
forty years since the photograph
where she stood on a narrow plot
of sand marked colored, smiling,
her hands on the flowered hips
of a cotton meal-sack dress.
Robert Hass, 1988
photo: Barbara Hall
Selected Haiku By Issa by Robert Hass, poet laureate 1995-1997
Don’t worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.
New Year’s Day—
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.
The snow is melting
and the village is flooded
with children.
Goes out,
comes back—
the love life of a cat.
Mosquito at my ear—
does he think
I’m deaf?
Under the evening moon
the snail
is stripped to the waist.
Even with insects—
some can sing,
some can’t.
All the time I pray to Buddha
I keep on
killing mosquitoes.
Napped half the day;
no one
punished me!
