Poetry
Proper Fat Proper Fat
Thin with disgust Fat with wordless joy And patience Thin like the opening of the gate You pray you’ll make it through Fat like the other side Fat with pubescence With moonstone or…
Ohio Ohio
Who am I to say that the hawk circling above the deck wasn’t really the murdered sister of our host, as she insisted? Who says the dead stay dead, or even human—for all I know our…
Poets
Hunt Murderers, Not Poets Hunt Murderers, Not Poets
In support of arrested Russian poet Evgenia Berkovich.
The Gift of Slam Poetry The Gift of Slam Poetry
A short history of a misunderstood literary genre and the world it created.
Is the American Dream a Long Con? Is the American Dream a Long Con?
A conversation with Alissa Quart about her new book Bootstrapped, an examination of how the ideology of individualism helped create the conditions for inequality.
Submit poetry to The Nation
More Poems
The City Wears a Coat to Bed The City Wears a Coat to Bed
The white army of winter spreads across the city. Boilers and radiators die in their sleep, their skin cold to the touch in the morning. The city wears a coat to bed. The city watc…
Apr 1, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Martín Espada
Brother Leaves Voicemails from CPEP Brother Leaves Voicemails from CPEP
Alex, any time, and at a moment’s notice you should give me the number I ask for. Unlock my phone, my money Somebody fucking stole my Gucci scarf And tell mom my son is not her chi…
Mar 21, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Alexandra Watson
Three Short Poems Three Short Poems
ORACULAR: THE WOMAN IN THE ARMCHAIR SPEAKS The beings after the Anthropocene will be formed of inorganic matter they will be not unfeeling they will study us the way we study the n…
Jan 24, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Alicia Ostriker
Congo: Curriculum Vitae (excerpt) Congo: Curriculum Vitae (excerpt)
[When one of us goes] When one of us goes to the other world, we gather and weep so that the ocean of our tears may take the deceased to their final resting place. [The path of lif…
Dec 13, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Alain Mabanckou
A Suit or a Suitcase A Suit or a Suitcase
You ask what I’ll miss about this life. Everything but cruelty, I think. But you want one specific thing, so here—I’ll miss my body. I’ll miss its companionship, how it’s tr…
Nov 23, 2022 / Poems / Maggie Smith