A.R. Ammons on “Conserving the Magnitude of Uselessness”

August 17, 2019 By Zara Raab

      Handstands through the Universe A.R. Ammons mentions “Conserving the Magnitude of Uselessness” an interview as a poem he considered, along with “If Anything Will Level with You Water Will,” among his two best. “Casadilla Falls” or “Corsons Inlet” are easier poems, surely, but “Conserving the Magnitude” is a marvel of invention, behaving at first […]

Berryman’s Sad Wild Riffs: Dream Songs 37, 38, and 39

July 21, 2019 By Zara Raab

 Idioms and Slang in Three of John Berryman’s 77 Dream Songs In John Berryman’s Dream Songs 37, 38, and 39, the expressive idioms and delectable slang characteristic of the Songs as a whole render moving and memorable this farewell to Robert Frost. 77 Dream Songs The central character of 77 Dream Songs is Henry, who, […]

The Rich Harmonies of Schnackenberg’s Kremlin of Smoke

May 14, 2019 By Zara Raab

 As full of “luxuriant ornamentation”[1] as a Frederik Chopin Mazurka or Nocturne, Gjertrud Schnackenberg’s eight-poem sequence from her 1985 book, The Lamplit Answer, is both tribute to Chopin’s music and mimicry of his aesthetic. With her strong poetic personality and unmistakable verse topography, it’s no surprise Schnackenberg is drawn to Chopin’s own singular and distinctive […]

Chana Bloch in Conversation – July 11, 2011

June 12, 2017 By Zara Raab

Saddened to hear of the death of the poet Chana Bloch earlier this year, I have been rereading her poems, some of which I reviewed in Poet Lore (“Chana Bloch’s New World,” a review of Blood Honey). In remembrance of her and her poems, both original and translations, I am reposting an interview I did […]

Getting down and walking the poem

October 20, 2016 By Zara Raab

“Rhyme, along with other intelligible repetitions of sounds, is often the symptom or indication that the poem is quickening.” —Susan Stewart, The Poet’s Freedom   Modernist poetry especially in America places a high value, perhaps the supreme value, on originality. Influenced by the highly expressive visual arts of early and mid-century, some poets began to […]

Next Page »
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Rumpelstiltskin
    • Fracas & Asylum
    • Swimming the Eel
    • The Book of Gretel
  • Poems
    • E S L
    • That Is to Say
    • Librarian
    • Billy Gawain
    • Notation on a Picture Postcard
    • The Yellow Fields
    • Oscar
  • Essays
  • Interviews
  • Editing Services
  • Links
  • Contact
  • Blog

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedIn

zara raab poet and writer

Photos Copyright © 2021 Andrea Young |BrainProTips| All Poems Copyright © 2021 Zara Raab |