Books and Ideas

Nation Poetry

To Julia de Burgos To Julia de Burgos

Already people murmur I’m your enemy since they say that in verse I give the world to me. They lie, Julia de Burgos. They lie, Julia de Burgos. The one rising in my verses isn’t yo…

Apr 10, 2021 / Poems / Julia de Burgos and Ilan Stavans

Nation Poetry

Ann Arbor doesn’t need streetlights Ann Arbor doesn’t need streetlights

Black ass is obvious at 2:00AM on Geddes Avenue. Should I blame N my thighs, sheering denim to skin windows? Or these cornbread- N cultivated hips Clifton passed on to me that seem…

Apr 6, 2021 / Poems / Courtney Faye Taylor

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

Anti-Facts and Anti-Vaxx Anti-Facts and Anti-Vaxx

Why would I take the vaccine when I’ve already injected myself with bleach?

Apr 6, 2021 / Tom Tomorrow

Benito Mussolini

Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen? Are We Living in an Age of Strongmen?

A new book by Ruth Ben-Ghiat discusses the past and present challenges posed by authoritarianism, but misses the social and economic conditions in which it arises.

Apr 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

capitol-siege-angeli-ap-img

Alternative Facts Alternative Facts

“It was zero threat.… Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards—you know, they had great relationships.” —Donald Trump on the January 6 riote…

Apr 6, 2021 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez

The General, the Mistress, and the Love Stories That Blind Us The General, the Mistress, and the Love Stories That Blind Us

Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez discusses her new book on Isabel Cooper, a Filipina American actress and Douglas MacArthur’s lover.

Apr 5, 2021 / Q&A / Noah Flora

Gogol by Ciardiello

Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs Gogol’s Bullshit Jobs

His biting satires of Russian bureaucracy examined the random cruelty and arbitrary hierarchy of an empire in crisis.

Apr 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson

Nation Poetry

It’s Important I Remember That There’s a Difference Between a Human Being and a Person— It’s Important I Remember That There’s a Difference Between a Human Being and a Person—

which comes to mind each time I see them kiss a dog on the mouth. N A dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s only because our best friends cannot say the things acquaintances do abo…

Apr 1, 2021 / Poems / Cortney Lamar Charleston

Leonora Carrington

Leonora Carrington’s Irreverent Dreamscapes Leonora Carrington’s Irreverent Dreamscapes

The surrealist painter’s only novel, The Hearing Trumpet, is a wily, epicurean, and hilariously scattershot exploration of nature, religion, myth, and more.

Apr 1, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Zachary Fine

Nation Poetry

Rehearsals (Lilica [Pixote, 1980 dir. Héctor Babenco]) Rehearsals (Lilica [Pixote, 1980 dir. Héctor Babenco])

I’m telling you a place of purple rocks stretching to the sunset…I’m telling you eyes like a pharaoh’s…I’m telling you huge bouquets of flowers drooling in cheap rooms…I’m telling…

Apr 1, 2021 / Poems / Robert Fernandez

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