Sixteen poets, including two Civitellians, tell us about the verses and books they are reading, or that they hope others seek out:
Natalie Diaz (CRF 2015) recommends Canisia Lubrin’s “The Dyzgraphxst.” “It is on time in reminding us that language is a performance, a re-enactment of the deeds we have done and practice for those we might yet do. The pressure she puts on pronouns by disjointing who is defined by the “I,” the “you” and the “we” helps us to form what could be the most important questions of this radical summer: Who am I; who are you; who are we; in relation to the world we’d like to live in?”
Ocean Vuong (CRF 2016) says, “I turn often, when my nerve and courage fail me, to Li-Young Lee’s poems, especially to his debut collection, “Rose.” In a work of majestic hope cast through language rich and deftly sculpted, Lee manages to weld the holy with the hellish in ways that both mirror and expand the plight of our species, its history, its joys and wild beauties at once.”
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