Mural in Cochabamba, Bolivia / Photo by proyecto mARTaderoFor more on the poetry of Valdivia, read the companion essay by Margaret Randall. Aullido poema octogonalEn el graznido de mi no…
Poems
October 3, 2017
January 25, 2017Antti T. Nissinen, “Untitled” (spirit level), May 25, 2011Homesickness A house is something that stands up to a slopeby what it confronts on every side.But take note: say house in this c…
November 16, 2016“When I read a necessary poem (which is different from just a good poem), it shakes me, even changes me a little, and deepens my understanding of the world,” Zeina Hashem Beck, Lebanese poet, said in…
July 11, 2016Aaron Brown, “Brickyard,” Ati, Chad, March 2007Author’s note: I recently returned to Chad after a five-year absence and found the nation of my youth to be both the same and yet remar…
July 5, 2016Christopher, Tania, and Isabelle Luna, “Mountains and Rain” (the hills of Fuzhou), September 2009 The Hills Overlooking FuzhouLooking north you see them,roads like ragged scars on hard lean ribs:…
April 20, 2016Photo by Guillermo Galan/FlickrKeeping tabs on the poets in your city or state can be a daunting task, but poets all over the world? To help with that, we’ve put together this short but powerful…
April 13, 2016Like most immigrant kids, John Guzlowski never wanted to write about his Polish parents and the world they left when they came to America. They had been slave laborers during World War II, while he, b…
November 17, 2015The image is central to most poets and poetry. In Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish,” the image is the poem. “His brown skin hung in strips / like ancient wallpaper, / and its pattern of dark…
September 9, 2015Guillermo Arreola, Ni tú escaparás (2005), mixed media on canvas, 90 x 80cm. Courtesy of the artist.Durability of Materials …
August 12, 2015史国瑞 (Shi Guorui), “Shanghai,” 15–16 October 2004, unique camera obscura, gelatin silver print,129 x 440 cm. By permission of the photographer. In this YouTube video, he discusses the gen…
April 16, 2015Photo by Silvestri Matteo/UnsplashApril means three things: national poetry month, radiant nature, and beautiful poems inspired by it. If you know and love acclaimed naturalist writer Mary Oliver, che…
December 15, 2014A Review of Ancestral Intelligence, by Vera Schwarcz (Atrium House, 2013)Photo by Eki Ramadhan1Where thought could not be free,Death was a more welc…- September 19, 2014News, Reviews, and InterviewsIn one of the most controversial articles to circle the web recently, NPR writer and critic Juan Vidal wonders what has happened to political poets. (For…
September 4, 2014Hartwig HKD, “Black Icarus,” 2010. Old photographs and their conventions are both familiar and foreign to us, with their alienated and uncanny appeal. They also often seem very formal and stiff com…
August 4, 2014Photo by M./Flickr Today on the phone,first time in thirty years,my friend didn’t know me.Who? Where do you live?Where did we meet?She’s been slipping for a while.I wonder if that’s how God feels…
April 25, 2014This week was full of celebrations, once again. Though we said goodbye to Gabriel García Márquez, literary readers, writers, and publishers around the globe celebrated his exceptional life. We also ce…
December 11, 2013Protesters in Kiev on December 9th. Photo by Ivan Bandura/FlickrEditorial note: In solidarity with the protesters in Ukraine, WLT offers the following selections by…
August 22, 2013When mortals love one anotherthey will live in mutual understanding forever;and many things will succeed,…
December 6, 2012Tibetan poet Woeser Since China’s invasion in the 1950s, the West’s main focus has been on the struggle for independence in Tibet, reporting the monks’ fiery suicides and protestors or journalist…
Recent Posts
WLT’s executive director, editors, and staff all deeply mourn the passing of David L. Boren, who died on February 20, 2025. Nick Hathaway, who…
. . . I sleep early, risebefore daylight, waitwith patient stuporthe coming gray light. . . I move slowly,surreptitiously — ananimal hungry to find…
Mariana Sabino’s debut short-story collection, The Verdigris Stories, transports readers to many different countries. This collection of loosely…
Photo by ike / Adobe Stock
Boat and ReactionYou were cooking in a dim sum restaurant it worried meIn dreams we react so strangelySometimes only…
Since the moment we became readers, we have always thought that to interpret the most profound ideas of a literary work—from the multiple creations…
