Plague's Monologue
Lynn Emanuel

I erased the world so nothing can find it, snuffed out the roses, red and hot as the snouts of bombs, repealed the polar ice cap, even that fat oxymoron, the "industrial park," has disappeared. And the last few words huddled together, like bees in a hive buzzing and plotting? I cut their throats with the scythe of a comma, turned the snout of my pen against them. I saved by erasing the streets and the people—let them be overgrown with absence. I don't care—there is no limit to my appetite, my lust, my zeal for emptiness. But I know you—and you have kept a transcript of the disappearance.

from the book TRANSCRIPT OF THE DISAPPEARANCE, EXACT AND DIMINISHING / University of Pittsburgh Press
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Color photograph of exhibition of manuscripts of Persian and Urdu poetry and prose by the well-known bilingual poet of the 18th century Mughal India Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810) held at the Urdu Ghar in Delhi, India
"Persian, Urdu Works of Poet Mir Taqi Mir Showcased in Delhi"

"A focal point of the event was the display of at least two different manuscripts of Zikr-e Mir, the autobiography of the poet, which provided rare insights into his personal life, his struggles, and his evolution as a poet. Written in 1807, these manuscripts offer an intimate view of Mir’s thoughts and reflections, making them an invaluable piece of literary history."

viaTEHRAN TIMES
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Cover image of Soham Patel's book, all one in the end—/water
What Sparks Poetry: Soham Patel on Language as Form

"Place is a process with past(s), present(s), and future(s) that, according to geographer Doreen Massey, can be fragmented, dislocated, forgotten and reformed. Massey’s thinking through place in this era of super speedy space-time compression helps shape my sense of a poem’s ability to attend to place as an unending yet impermanent entity. A poem is a place where space-time compression must occur, and why place in all its durations inspires me."
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