“There is now only light in my eyes”: On Antonio Gamoneda’s Book of the Cold by Peter Valente

Antonio Gamoneda was only five years old when the Spanish Civil War began in 1936. He came of age during … More

“A visible light in the gathering darkness”: Peter Valente on Ennio Moltedo’s Poetry Collection Night

On September 11, 1973, Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile during a coup d’état supported by the United States, overthrowing … More

“And in a Heap Cam on Them with a Swack”: Notes by Peter Valente on a Few Passages in Gavin Douglas’ Aeneid with Examples of Its influence on Modernist Poetry

“And in a Heap Cam on Them with a Swack” With new translations of Virgil’s Aeneid appearing last year, Shadi … More

“A Person’s Life Is Political”: Notes on David Wojnarowicz’s Work by Peter Valente

I’d always felt an alienation from the “art” world as well as the alienation from the forward thrust of civilization. … More

“WE NEVER SEE ANYTHING CLEARLY”: Notes on John Ruskin’s Modern Painters by Peter Valente

WE NEVER SEE ANYTHING CLEARLY It is autumn and there is a chill in the air. As I write, there … More

“Notes on Ann Lewinson’s Still Life with Meredith,” a book review by Peter Valente

Ann Lewinson’s novella Still Life with Meredith is fantastically perverse, erudite, essayistic, and precise as a laser as it navigates … More

Peter Valente: “Notes on John Wieners’ ‘A Poem for Painters'” (Selected Poems 1958-1984), written after reading Bill Berkson’s Sudden Address

Notes on John Wieners’ “A Poem for Painters” In “A Poem for Painters,” John Wieners writes: Paul Klee scratched for … More

“In the Tearing Wind”: A Conversation with Edward Foster’s A Looking-Glass for Traytors by Peter Valente

Edward Foster, in his new book of poems A Looking-Glass for Traytors, explores the nature of desire and memory, risking … More

Peter Valente on Larry Fagin’s Peaches & Gravy: Selected Poems 1966-2016, edited by Miles Champion (Cuneiform)

In free improvisation, one requires quick responses to shifting musical realities. Instinctive unity of mind, hand, mouth is required: out … More

Peter Valente Review: Memory, a Siglio Press book by Bernadette Mayer

1. Bernadette Mayer’s Memory contains around 1100 photographs, along with 31 poetic journal entries. Each day for the month of … More