Rita Dove

Stay by the hearth, little cricket.

—Cendrillon
You prefer me invisible, no more than
a crisp salute far away from
your silks and firewood and woolens.

Out of sight, I'm merely an annoyance,
one slim, obstinate wrinkle in night's
deepening trance. When sleep fails,

you wish me shushed and back in my hole.
As usual, you're not listening: time stops
only if you stop long enough to hear it

passing. This is my business:
I've got ten weeks left to croon through.
What you hear is a lifetime of song.
from the journal THE PARIS REVIEW
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"Poetry, From Beethoven to Armageddon"

Melissa Eddy discusses recent work by torrin a. greathouse, Natalie Shapero, Ruth Padel, Gregory Fraser, and Sylvie Baumgartel, in an overview of "new and noteworthy" poetry collections.
 
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What Sparks Poetry:
Vivek Narayanan on "Ayodhya"


"Every translation is a collaboration among many, including all those who have come to this terrain before you.  I am indebted even to those translations whose approach I reject because they gave me the benefit of having something to reject.
 
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