Poetry International #29

This issue of Poetry International features a formidable yet approachable array of work from poets from around the world offered in both the original language and English translation. Readers will find sublime eco-poems from Italy, haunting geopolitical lyrics from Mexico, tragic odes from Iran, prophetic fables from Albania, aphoristic mytho-elegies from Greece, elemental ekphrases from Spain, surreal imaginings from Brazil, and heartfelt ballads from Djibouti. Capturing a seminal cross-section of contemporary global poetics, this collection features legendary voices translated by award-winning translators-the work of poets like Ana Luísa Amaral translated by Margaret Jull Costa, Anna Świrszczyńska by Piotr Florczyk, and Abdourahman A. Waberi by Nancy Naomi Carlson-alongside previously unpublished work by such brilliant new poets as Adam O. Davis and Sakinah Hofler, among others. Composed of brief portfolios and individual poems, Poetry International 29 is immensely readable-the portfolios in translation thoughtfully offering the original language facing the English translation. The result is a panorama of modern life, fully inhabiting its beauties and tribulations. Certain portfolios examine ecology and spiritual stasis-the mystical synergies between human self and earthen other-while also lamenting the ongoing corrosion of the natural world. Others confront migration, nationalism, and exile, balancing images of horrific, abject corporeality with glimmers of persistent hope. And others contend with codes, ghosts, and objects in modernity, employing surreal associations and abstract chains of meaning that encapsulate our topsy-turvy technological world, while embodying its arcane beauty.