Commentaries - May 2020

Language under pressure

Language under pressure; risk-taking of highest order, otherwise known as working on the edge; a way of life — these three qualities constitute my personal definition of poetry, even as I’m aware that the sum of these small parts is so much less than the more-than of poetry.

Language under pressure; risk-taking of highest order, otherwise known as working on the edge; a way of life — these three qualities constitute my personal definition of poetry, even as I’m aware that the sum of these small parts is so much less than the more-than of poetry. A. E.

On our radar: 'Little Hill' by Alli Warren

During this time of slowed publication, we at J2 want to highlight some books from our (digital) reviews shelf. Today’s poetry title on our radar: Little Hill by Alli Warren (City Lights, 2020). If you’d like to review this title, please let us know: jacket2.org/contact

During this time of slowed publication, we at J2 want to highlight some books from our (digital) reviews shelf. Today’s poetry title on our radar: Little Hill by Alli Warren (City Lights, 2020). If you’d like to review this title, please let us know: jacket2.org/contact

Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt, / Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd

Just as you are refreshed by the gladness of the river, and the bright flow, I was refreshed

I went for a walk to the banks of the Hudson, where 225 years ago George Washington bid a hasty nighttime retreat over these waters after the stunning upset in the Battle of Brooklyn.

We have our own Battle of Brooklyn now. And a battle for America.

I was heartened to see the Bridge, in all its glory, Mannahatta rising up behind, and in the distance (we're not there yet) the Statue of Liberty.

I thought of Hart Crane (of course!):

Under thy shadow by the piers I waited
in darkness is thy shadow clear.
The City’s fiery parcels all undone

The New York Times meets the liar's paradox

Caught in Trump's trap

The liar says he tells the truth and those who call his lies are liars. Greeks rhetoricians called this device the liars paradox.

The New York Times explicitly acknowledged the liars paradox in a recent headline, “New Press Aid Vowed Never to Lie. That Was the First Lie” (May 2, 2020, print edition p. A22). But the Times quickly got cold feet, revising the headline for the digital edition to “‘I Will Never Lie to You,’ McEnany Says in First White House Briefing: But Kayleigh McEnany, the president’s fourth press secretary, found that vow tested almost immediately.”