For this issue of Poetry Is Dead, we are interested in the poem that comes out of bodily experience that is difficult. The poem that does not eliminate the effort or labour from the writing. That makes difficulty visible. The untidy poem. The apparently struggling poem. The Sick Woman poem. The poem that does not hide its poet because that poet is always there, just behind the curtain. The poem that has struggled into being, sweating, shaking.
We are interested in poems that risk being a try-hard, a killjoy, a slow learner, an angry [whatever]. Poems that risk needing a shower. We want poems that let us see — force us to see — the sweat.

Learn more here.

Return to the International Poetry Calendar.