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February Book Review
I published a review of Joseph Osmundson’s fragmented memoir Inside/Out over at Poets & Artists: In 76 brief fragments, Osmundson peers inward, examining his life, his feelings, and his history as a source text to understand the dissolution of an emotionally volatile relationship. This is the story of Osmundson’s romance with Kaliq/Tariq/F—, a man whose real…
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A Level Playing Field for Poets
The annual announcement of the finalists for our major book prizes is always a time to celebrate. Many outstanding poetry collections get their due in these moments, drawing more readers, more reviews, and more attention to the work therein. Between 1992 and 2008, 12 of the National Book Award winners for poetry were collected or…
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New Review of Barbie Chang
Poets & Artists recently published my review of Victoria Chang’s new poetry collection Barbie Chang, which I enjoyed and admired a great deal. We first meet Barbie Chang, the character whose life and thoughts populate most of Victoria Chang’s fourth collection, at a conference, when everyone stands to give the speaker a standing ovation except Barbie,…
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Against Genre
The concept of genre—a defined category of writing, like poetry or novels or plays—isn’t currently fashionable. Many people find such categories too restrictive or fussy. Much of the energy of contemporary literature is in crossing and mixing various genres in single pieces of writing. Yet when it comes to poetry, it can help to think…
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You Will Be Held Accountable
Because I am super serious about my 2018 Literary Boss To Do List, I made a Google Sheet to track my progress on each of the areas I indicated would be a priority. I’m pleased to report that it is only January 11 but I am just three items away from having all my January…
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New Poem in Stirring
Thanks to Stirring for publishing this poem about taking my mom to hospice in the hours before she died. Hospice 1. Lift I lifted my mother’s body from the passenger seat- the notches of her spine, her slats of ribs- each bone against my skin, her weight pulling me down even as I lifted her […read…
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Charles Jensen | Writer 