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…

Antti 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…

“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…

Aaron 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…

Christopher, 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:…

Photo 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…

Like 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…

The 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…

Guillermo Arreola, Ni tú escaparás (2005), mixed media on canvas, 90 x 80cm. Courtesy of the artist.Durability of Materials          …

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…

Photo 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…

A Review of Ancestral Intelligence, by Vera Schwarcz (Atrium House, 2013)Photo by Eki Ramadhan1Where thought could not be free,Death was a more welc…

News, 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…

Hartwig 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…

Photo 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…

This 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…

Protesters in Kiev on December 9th. Photo by Ivan Bandura/FlickrEditorial note: In solidarity with the protesters in Ukraine, WLT offers the following selections by…

When mortals love one anotherthey will live in mutual understanding forever;and many things will succeed,…

Tibetan 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…