Category Archives: Poetry

Adrienne Rich’s ghazals

Posted on February 27, 2014 by wcd2

February 27, 2014 Her earliest ghazals are in Leaflets, at the very end of the volume, which I must have looked at. But I’m reading them seriously only now — because of Agha Shahid Ali and Call Me Ishmael Tonight, … Continue reading →

Posted in Arabic, Black-Jewish alliances, Caribbean literature, Contemporary novel, Indian Ocean, Middle East, Near Eastern poetry, Poetry, Twentieth century literature | Tagged Adrienne Rich, Agha Shahid Ali, Call Me Ishmael Tonight, Frantz Fanon, ghazals, Leaflets, Martinique | Leave a comment

Frank Stella, Agha Shahid Ali: Moby-Dick into ghazals

Posted on February 21, 2014 by wcd2

Feb 20, 2014 Stella’s “Fedallah” isn’t anything like Melville’s: not the “tiger-yellow” apparition “with one white tooth evilly protruding from its steel-like lips,” but a fluid, dancing figure, with some dark streaks and shadows, it’s true, but otherwise resplendent, impressive. … Continue reading →

Posted in abstract expressionism, adaptation, Arabic, Classics, Middle East, Modern art, Near Eastern poetry, Poetry, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature | Tagged Agha Shahid Ali, Ain Ghazal Variations, Call Me Ishmael Tonight, Frank Stella, Melville, Moby-Dick, Protractor Series | Leave a comment

Muriel Rukeyser, journalist

Posted on August 21, 2013 by wcd2

August 21, 2013 Today, as Bradley Manning is sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified documents, I think about all the trials that shadowed American literature: Sacco and Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Case, and, probably not so well-known, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Egypt, Journalism, Labor history, Law, Poetry, Twentieth century literature | Tagged Alabama, Bradley Manning, Gauley Bridge, Hawk's Nest Incident, Muriel Rukeyser, Sacco and Vanzetti, Sappho, Scottsboro, Student Review, The Book of the Dead, Vassar, West Virginia | Leave a comment

Elizabeth Bishop: “Brazil, January 1, 2015” or “Manuelzinho:?

Posted on May 1, 2013 by wcd2

May 1, 2015 The Table of Contents, the print anthology as a finite, bounded object — they loom large. While they do that, though, this blog is going to hold out for a little longer, not going there yet. … Continue reading →

Posted in Americas, Brazil, Colonization, Food in literature, Global South, indigenous communities, Latin America, Poetry, Portuguese, Racial violence, Twentieth century literature, Uncategorized | Tagged 1502, Brazil, Elizabeth Bishop, January 1, Manuelhinzo | Leave a comment

Brazil: Karen Tei Yamashita, Elizabeth Bishop

Posted on April 24, 2013 by wcd2

April 24, 2013 Both write about human efforts that come to nothing. Bishop’s Manuelzinho begins bravely, planting gardens that ravish the eye: beds of cabbages edged with red carnations, lettuces with alyssum. But then “silver umbrella ants arrive,/ or it … Continue reading →

Posted in Americas, Asian-American literature, Brazil, Contemporary novel, Environmentalism, Ethnicity, Genre, Global South, indigenous communities, lyric, Magical realism, Poetry, Science fiction, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged Brazil, Cain, Elizabeth Bishop, Karen Tei Yamashita, Manuelzinho, Matacao, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest | Leave a comment

Ralph Ellison, Marianne Moore: Yams and Nectarines

Posted on January 16, 2013 by wcd2

January 16, 2013 The yams are as real as anything in Invisible Man. The mere smell of them sends a “stab of swift nostalgia” coursing through the protagonist. The years of his life seem so many yams eaten: candied, … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, China, Chinese art, Ethnicity, Food in literature, Gender, lyric, Poetry, Twentieth century literature | Tagged China, Invisible Man, Marianne Moore, Nine Nectarine and Other Porcelain, Ralph Ellison, The World's Geography | 2 Comments

Mangoes: Richard Blanco, Sandra Cisneros

Posted on January 9, 2013 by wcd2

January 9, 2013 Conceived in Cuba, born in Spain, raised and educated in Miami– that’s Richard Blanco, as described by the inaugural planners. What poem would he be reciting on January 20? It’s not so easy to guess based on … Continue reading →

Posted in Americas, Cities, Contemporary literature, Cuba, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Food in literature, Global South, Latino/a literature, Poetry, Spanglish, Vernacular dialects | Tagged Barcelona, Bethel, Brazil, Chicago, Cienfuegos, City of a Hundred Fires, Cuba, Directions to the Beach of the Dead, Guatemala, House on Mango Street, Maine, Malta, Miami, Richard Blanco, Rome, Sandra Cisneros, Spain | Leave a comment

Frederick Douglass, H.D.: Egypt Again

Posted on January 2, 2013 by wcd2

Janurary 2, 2013 She never mentioned him and probably never read him. Still, he anticipated her. Visiting Egypt in 1887, Douglass wrote: “I do not know of what color and features the ancient Egyptians were, but the great mass of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, ancient Greece, Christianity, Classics, Comparative literature, Egypt, Gender, Global South, Islam, Modernist poetry, Poetry, Race, slavery, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Wars, world literature | Tagged Egypt, Frederick Douglass, Greeks, H.D., Islam, Malcolm X, Petition for franchise for women, Seneca Falls Convention, Stesichorus of Sicily, Trojans | Leave a comment

Muriel Rukeyser, Wallace Stevens: Books of the Dead

Posted on December 26, 2012 by wcd2

December 26, 1012 There’s a picture of the two of them – Stevens standing at the back, and Rukeyser seated in front with Marianne Moore. To the left of him from where they were, and to the left of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Classics, Egypt, Environmentalism, Experimental poetry, Global South, Journalism, Labor history, lyric, Poetry, print medium, Race, Remediation, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Vernacular dialects | Tagged Book of the Dead, Dante, Egypt, Henry Church, Homer, investigative journalism, Marianne Moore, Muriel Rukeyser, Owl in the Sarcophagus, silica mines, U.S.1, Underworld, Virgil, Wallace Stevens, West Virginia | Leave a comment

Guns in Connecticut: Wallace Stevens

Posted on December 19, 2012 by wcd2

December 19, 2012 No, he only worked for insurance companies, but Hartford does have an exceptionally high concentration of gun manufacturers. Colt, founded in 1845, has its headquarters here. The U.S. Firearms Manufacturing Co., the Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co., Savage … Continue reading →

Posted in macro politics, Poetry, Twentieth century literature, WAr | Tagged "A Woman Sings a Song for a Soldier Come Home";, "Repetitions for a Young Captain", Colt, Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co., Ferdinand Auberjonois, Inc., NDZ Performance, Partisan Review, Samuel French Morse, Sandy Hook, Savage Arms, Smith & Wesson, U.S. Firearms Manufacturing Co., Wallace Stevens, World War I, World War II | Leave a comment