The American Poetry Review November/December 2020
The American Poetry Review reaches a worldwide audience six times a year with the finest contemporary poetry, columns, interviews, photos, translations, and reviews. Every issue includes new voices, established masters, and exciting new translations.
in this issue
five poems
Banished Wonders The American linden sways nonplussed by the storm,a bounce here, a shimmy there, just shaking like musicleft over from the night’s end wafting into the avenues before sleep.I remember once walking down Clinton Street, and singingthat line returning, New York is cold, but I like where I’m living.There’s music on Clinton Street all through the evening. And of coursethere was music, though it was me and my incessant remembering.And here now, what does one even offer?Darling Cockroaches of the Highest Order, hard underthingsof hard underworlds, I am utterly suspicious of advice.What is the world like out there? Are you singing in the tunnels?I should say nothing sometimes.I should say, Memory will leap from the mountain.Dearest purple spiderwort in the ditch’s mud, how did you do it?Such bravery, such softness,…
stanley kunitz memorial prize
APR announces the Twelfth Annual Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize for poets under 40 years of age. A prize of $1,000 Publication in APR May 15, 2021 deadline A prize of $1,000 and publication of the winning poem in The American Poetry Review will be awarded to a poet under 40 years of age in honor of the late Stanley Kunitz’s dedication to mentoring poets. The winning work will appear on the feature page (back cover) of the September/October 2021 issue of The American Poetry Review. All entrants will receive a copy of the September/October 2021 issue. Poets may submit one to three poems per entry (totaling no more than three pages) with a $15 entry fee by May 15, 2021. The editors of The American Poetry Review will judge. Winner will be notified by July…
somebody else sold the world
Somebody Else Sold the World & before I knew it, the violet skyflagged with the sun’s violentdemands: for magnolias in bloom,for natural light, anyplace withoutlocks or doors. Different kindsof masks for being & breathing.The antagonists with their vanitytans sang the usual jingles aboutliberties & wars while we buttoned upour confinement & dreamed abouthugs. We talked about was & when& the antagonists got more franticin their doubletalk when we missedour friends & dentist appointments.Molars fell out without breathable air.Hair forgot its natural colors withoutthe testimony of crowded intersections& barbeques. Words lost their familyrecipes. Friends lost their words,then lost their parents. A few foundlove somehow in the gerrymanderedgrocery lines & farmer’s fieldsupturned with their own unsellablevegetables. The antagonists corneredthe ensuing curfew, fabricatingarguments & armed to the teeth.No masks, blinking phones whereears should have…
the national poetry series
FIVE $10,000 PRIZES AND BOOK PUBLICATION PARTICIPATING PUBLISHERS: BEACON PRESS, ECCO, MILKWEED EDITIONS, PENGUIN BOOKS, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS NOW SUBMIT ONLINE ENTRY PERIOD: January 1, 2021 through March 1, 2021 ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: Previously unpublished book-length manuscripts of poetry accompanied by a $35.00 entrance fee. Entrants must reside in the United States or be American citizens, and winners will be responsible for compliance with Internal Revenue Service guidelines. SUBMITTING: https://www.thenationalpoetryseries.submittable.com/submit (and/or review and follow the guidelines on our website: www.nationalpoetryseries.org) The National Poetry Series was established in 1978 to ensure the publication of five books of poetry each year. Winning manuscripts are selected through this annual open competition judged by five distinguished poets. Each winning poet receives a $10,000 cash award in addition to having his or her manuscript published by one of the NPS participating…
five poems
The God Incentive He kept me through childhood.There was a reasonhe kept me from sin like a biscuitwarming in the oven.It’s okay I tell the rain to keep him a theorybut bring him downonce in a while.It’s okay to be honest or selfishbut find the spot where you sinka little into the velvet stadium seatof secrets other secretshave rubbed away.See I have been alone and didn’t know itwaiting on the inside glassof a trafficked worldwhere one mistrust passes anotherwith a long yellow hornthat no hand can quiet.Something other than scienceis pressing down on my night watchsaying sing hereinstead of signing off this hour.Ride the hard part,that is the good part as many holy animalsmust know and let go of,everyone is still barely alive. Mercy Later There is this green chair to which I…
fur below
Born in the year of the dog & bittenby one six years later walking home solofrom first grade & turning into an alleywhere a brown mutt mounted a dirty poodleI didn’t take their bodies for orangecones to swerve or turn back fromI paused & watched as they humped in frontof a garage belonging to the blue buildingwhere we rented the back end of a second floorapartment while my tia resided in the front halfI walked into their barked warningsheading towards the back door of homeby staying close to garages & garbage cansuntil I got too close & the cur got offthe poodle & mounted my bodyin a different way w/stiff paws& claws that tore at my facew/a tongue lapping up bloodw/a nose pelting my forehead wetw/teeth peeling off my skinonly…
