“Our Favorite Things”: Katherine E. Young and Natalya Sukhonos Discuss New Poetry Collections
Russophone-connected writers Young and Sukhonos present alternating interviews in this fascinating piece from literary blog, Punctured Lines.
Watch or read this alternating interview between poet and translator Katherine E. Young and Natalya Sukhonos both of which release new collections of original poetry this year. The interview is published by literary blog Punctured Lines.
Young's Woman Drinking Absinthe was launched last Saturday and has since been garnering rave reviews across the web. WDA explores experience, specifically female experience, through a folkloric and impressionistic aesthetic utilizing at once the paintings of Manet, the classic horror tale of Bluebeard, and Euclidean geometry to draw complex portraits which transcend period, region, and genre. Read some of her poems here.
Sukhonos brings her immense poetic and empathic talent to themes of motherhood and loss in her newest collection, A Stranger Home published by Moon Pie Press. She also draws a strong sense of place by exploring "locales ranging from Odessa to San Francisco."
Featured Poetry: “Bluebirds” by Grace Cavalieri
Other Voices, Other Lives was my introduction to Grace. Her book sits now on my shelf between The Waves and Duino Elegies, the pages are worn from thumbing-thru, it is dog-eared, destroyed in certain ways well-loved books are destroyed, aged by the eyes, like good denim, but here the creases are black underlines, and the fading is from yellow highlighter and coffee stains. So in honor of, well, my deep admiration for Grace, I’ve picked one of her poems from Other Voices, Other Lives to share. If this is the first encounter with her poetry, welcome, hello, the books page is just yonder up the screen under “books”! If you’ve long been a fan, I think “Bluebirds” is a great poem to share with those who might not yet have been introduced to Grace’s work.
Featured Audio: “Letter from Sligo Creek” a poem by Rose Solari
Like the cover photo, the poems in Difficult Weather are timeless and—unlike the poems in many first books—extraordinarily mature. Although the narrative voice is generally that of a young woman in her late twenties and early thirties whose subject matter sometimes ranges back to early childhood, these are poems of adulthood: the discovery and endlessly painful rediscovery of human frailty, sexual and emotional betrayal, bad love in all its familial and romantic varieties, memory, and elegy…
Listen to Grace Cavalieri Interview fmr. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky
Grace Cavalieri is known widely for her stirring and empathic poetry, collected in her Legacy work Other Voices, Other Lives, but did you know that she is also an impressive interviewer? On her NPR show, The Poet and The Poem, she interviews significant poets from the US and around the world, with an aim of interpreting their lives through their poetry. In her tenure on the program, she has interviewed 9 US Poets Laureate (you can find a list with these archived interviews HERE), including the incomparable Robert Pinsky.