June 2024
POETRY Magazine - June 2024, Volume 224, Number 3
Overall Issue Rating: 5/5 stars
With twenty 5/5 reviews, June is by far the strongest issue of 2024!
*Note – I will no longer be reviewing essays or other content that are not explicitly poetry. I enjoy this alternative content, but the group is best served if we stick to reviewing poetry alone.
Best poem of the month: Jackson Holbert - I AM 17. I HAVE A LOT TO SAY.
Honorable Mention: Jackie Sabbagh – Female CEO
Honorable Mention: Erika L. Sanchez - Prodigal Daughter
Honorable Mention: Carol McCarthy - Still Life, Wusthof in Hand
Comment: It was an impossible task to select the best poem from this issue, but this struggle was delightfully refreshing.
Adrian Matejka
Editor’s Note (Rating: 5/5)
“Jimi Hendrix’s music is about newness as much as it is about artistic faith. He had the confidence that what he played was necessary, and the belief those notes could be heard the way he wanted. I don’t know if there’s a corollary to Hendrix in poetry, but I know many of us artistically searching poets have had similar experiences. In this issue, we see this uncertainty (and also beautiful abandon)[…] Poets might not always have the panache of the greatest rock guitarist ever, but we do have the same curiosity and desire. In the interview in this issue, Kwame Dawes says, “I am seeking to be faithful to the artist in me.” What a wonderful charge. We all need to be faithful to our inner artist, whether that art feedbacks through an amp or is written in a spiral notebook on a bench in a sundial’s shadow.” – Adrian Matejka
Comment: When I was in high school in the late 90’s and CDs were popular, Jimi Hendrix was the second album I bought with my own money. Adrian Matejka’ note rings loud and true in my ears, just as Jimi Hendrix still does. It is a simple and straightforward Editor’s Note, but it is also a note of great power and wisdom.
Gboyega Odubanjo
Crown (Rating 4.5/5)
The Lyric Adam (Rating 5/5)
Erika L. Sanchez
Prodigal Daughter (Rating 5/5)
Memories of No Consequence (Rating 1/5)
Translation (Rating 1/5)
Patricia Guzman
Perennial (Rating 5/5)
First Fall (Rating 5/5)
Jackson Holbert
I AM 17. I HAVE A LOT TO SAY. (Rating 5/5)
“We like to pretend that one day we just
walk into our adulthood like a congressman
walking into the ocean,
but we all know that’s not true. What really happens
is we walk into the same building
day after day, but every night
some crew comes in and replaces something little—
a lamp housing, the chair of a conference table—
until nothing is the same, until the building is not as we
remembered it at all, until the building is stronger,
up to code but a lot less fun,
and the lighting, the lighting is fluorescent and obscene.”
Kristin Svava Tomasdottir
snow in most tracks (Rating 1/5)
learningnonsense (Rating 1/5)
her mind ranged higher than common happenings (Rating 5/5)
Campbell McGrath
Glory-of-the-Atlantic (Rating 5/5)
Carlina Duan
Anoint (Rating 5/5)
Carol McCarthy
Still Life, Wusthof in Hand (Rating 5/5)
Dunya Mikhail
My Father’s Nest (Rating 4/5)
Samantha Chianese
“Molothrus ater” (Rating 5/5)
Liz Harms
The Growing (Rating 5/5)
Comment: Beautifully crafted enjambment.
Sean Cho A.
& Then #4 (Rating 3/5)
Jackie Sabbagh
Having a Great Time Being Transgender in America Lately (Rating 4/5)
Female CEO (Rating 5/5)
Ahn Joo Cheol
Village (Rating 2/5)
Hamburg (Rating 4/5)
It Faintly Lingers (Rating 3/5)
Comment: I’ve said this before, and I will continue to stand by the commentary: poetry does not lend itself well to translation.
Saddiq Dzukogi
Bakandamiya (Rating 2.5/5)
Bakandamiya (Rating 2/5)
Sally Keith
On Distance (Rating 3.5/5)
Artificial Animal (Rating 2/5)
Leia K. Bradley
My Gender Is a Red Stiletto or Grocery Store Feet (Rating 5/5)
Matthew Rohrer
Poem for Friends (Rating 1/5)
The Handoff (Rating 1/5)
For a Farrier (Rating 2/5)
Comment: I always try my best to review each poem through an objective lens, but I continue to be baffled by this brand of low-effort poetry making into the pages of the most prestigious poetry magazine in the world. And not just one low-effort poem from Mr. Rohrer, but three? These poems read like a fifth-grade poetry homework assignment. I apologize to Mr. Rohrer if my review is hurtful; however, subscribers are paying for this content, and we deserve better.
Edward Salem
Mission (Rating: 3.5/5)
Ready to Lose to Salah ad-Din I (Rating 3/5)
Ready to Lose to Salah ad-Din II (Rating 2.5/5)
The Dome of the Rock Was on Fire (Rating 2/5)
Comment: I enjoyed Mr. Salem’s poems, but do they deserve the prestige of being printed in POETRY Magazine? I’m not so sure. POETRY Magazine is frequently guilty of putting politics before substance, and this dogma has two consequences: 1.) mediocre poetry is irrationally elevated to published status simply because it contains words such as “transgender, Palestine, anarchy” or any of the other politically hot words of the months, and 2.) well-written poetry that is not politically charged is left to collect dust in the POETRY Magazine inbox. I colloquially refer to this sort of poetry as “keyword poetry.” I will note, however, that this issue has a fantastic balance of political and non-political poetry, but regardless, this has been a blatant issue for POETRY Magazine the past few years. I enjoy political poetry, but I think the wrong poems are being selected for the wrong reasons. I find it hard to believe that these are the strongest poems about Palestine that are being submitted to POETRY Magazine. Again, it’s not that the poetry is bad, but does it deserve to be published in POETRY? A required editorial box is being checked: “keyword poetry.”
Kwame Dawes
Walk ‘Bout (Rating 5/5)
Spotted (Rating 5/5)
A Cup of Trembling (Rating 5/5)
Straight Paths (Rating 4/5)
Comment: Very strong poetry; some of the most unique writing of the year. I’m rejuvenated and excited by Kwame Dawes’ writing style, and I look forward to reading more of his work.
Isabela Agosa
Generic Indian Ennui (Rating 5/5)
an instrument for making fabric by weaving (Rating 5/5)
Madeleine Cravens
Road to Harissa (Rating 5/5)
The Photographer (Rating 3/5)
Jacob Riis Beach (Rating 3/5)