In the warm compartment of the 33rd St.
train the quiet catches fire and I light
my mind on thoughts of you and me
on Seventh Avenue where Perry slips

in and Jeeps raced past afternoons
as if on West Street, how any man could
have had me once but you do. Like today

when icy rain paints the Village glass
and I glide down a strip of slick sidewalk
onto Sixth and 9th, a vision of you rising

in me as a landscape of possibility
and though it's freezing and I'm soaked
through it all I still stand there eagerly

on the cement because the gray light
in the winter sky is evening and soon
enough you'll be off and meet me

with your eyes at Journal Square
and later we'll play, two ballers
shadowing each other's moves
this freestyle of loving, our groove.
from the book THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2023 / Scribner
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A Review of Self-Portrait as Othello by Jason Allen-Paisant

"As the title would suggest, Jason Allen-Paisant's Self-Portrait as Othello is an examination of the poet's person, rendered alongside—and, at times, in contrast with—the image of Othello from Shakespeare's eponymous play. And with this central framework, Allen-Paisant carefully, passionately traces a life story of absence, romance, identity, incongruity, and, ultimately, self-acknowledgment as a Black man."

via WORLD LITERATURE TODAY
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What Sparks Poetry:
Niki Herd on Language as Form


"My poems usually take several months, if not years, to write themselves but 'Lyric Sung in Third Person' will only take a few short months. I often think cinematically and the poem's draft is asking me to deviate from the conversational tone of my previous work. It's asking for a reflective and lyrical treatment. Here, I imagine a canvas filled with lineated images and caesuras in my attempt to engage the visual and kinetic energy of the page."
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