November 2, 2019
Writing Animals
I There are many forms of “animal” writing — one might write of farming animals, or of hunting them, one might taxonomize, or write a history of our relations with them, or […]
November 2, 2019
Why I Write
There was a time when war was a man’s business. Wars were fought by soldiers, and soldiers were men. Men gave their lives. So naturally men, male authors, took custody […]
November 2, 2019
Writers, Readers, and Activists
1 Brother-in-arms and fellow novelist Tony Birch nearly gave up writing fiction to concentrate on “activism” in the cause of climate change. He didn’t want his children saying after his […]
November 2, 2019
Intimate Alienation, or [blank for your response]
The inability to take classical texts for granted is a great gift that some female translators are able to use as a point of leverage, to shift the canon to […]
August 31, 2019
On Sparrows
God keep his oath to sparrows, Who of little love Know how to starve! — Emily Dickinson My father was born on New Year’s Day in 1960. When he was an infant, my […]
July 1, 2019
Two Hearts
My heart is inflamed. It demands to be known, felt, sitting heavy in my chest, making it hard to breathe. The pain is central, right between my breasts, and it […]
July 1, 2019
Richard Wilbur
At the time of his death on October 14, 2017, ninety-six-year-old Richard Wilbur might well have been what the more conservative elements of the contemporary literary scene would term a […]
March 2, 2019
By the Skin of Our Teeth
1 The crowd gathers on a grassy field. They are hundreds strong, men and women, old and young, though very few are children. Some are dressed casually, others as if […]
January 2, 2019
Like
Introduction Her name is Frederica. They call her “Chica Bonita,” “C. B.,” “El Terrible.” Someone also calls her “madre,” someone calls her “hija” — that’s not going to keep her here. She’s […]
November 1, 2018
Editor’s Notes: When a Glorious Past May Also Be a Burden
For many years any description or overview of the Kenyon Review has begun, understandably enough, at the beginning. In 1939, so the story goes, John Crowe Ransom, a noted poet […]
November 1, 2018
Introduction: Getting and Spending
“Money is a kind of poetry.” This is one of Wallace Stevens’s zingers in “Adagia.” Stevens dealt with money in his daily business at Hartford Indemnity, and I imagine he […]
November 1, 2018
The Third Territory
My baby was born with a full head of black hair. I marveled at her, in shock after twelve hours of natural childbirth, running my hands over her tiny fingers […]