LINE LEVEL #13
Welcome to LINE LEVEL: Craft Lessons from Poets of Color, a monthly column in which writer, editor, and educator Joanna Acevedo zooms in on an element of craft from the work of BIPOC poets. LINE LEVEL unfolds in three parts:…
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Poetry: “Hi Everyone! Welcome To My 8 Step Skincare Routine” by Christy Ku
As New Voices wind down for the year, Christy Ku brings us “Hi Everyone!” which is an exercise in irreverence. We see her repetitive in form, which at first feels like a comic trick, but rises into a fever pitch…
2024 Frontier OPEN Finalists Part Three: Chennelle Channer, Lee Pelletier, Justin Rigamonti
Our last installment of finalist bring us three poets intimately engaging with language, but not always in the ways you’d expect. Starting with Chennelle Channer’s poem, “Talkin With My Hands These Ain’t Gang Signs,” we find ourselves thrust into Channer’s…
Poetry: “Against letting sleeping dogs lie” by Angela Cao
Angela Cao is ambitious with “Against letting sleeping dogs lie,” and she delivers—in just a short grouping of lines she is able to demonstrate with lyrical precision a coming-of-age narrative turned on its head, a story that all too many…
2024 Frontier OPEN Finalists Part Two: Nicole Santalucia, Kate DeLay, Robin Wang
Part two of our installment of poems chosen as finalists brings poems from Nicole Santalucia, Kate DeLay, and Robin Wang. Another diverse group, Santalucia’s explorations with form take us immediately into the female body, shifting into and out of fantasy…
Poetry: “god in LOWERCASE.” by Hero Jason
Hero Jason has the remarkable ability to cut through the noise. He brings a refreshing honesty to spiritual practice, and even as his speaker struggles with their faith, it’s clear that Jason has tapped into a well of essential human…
2024 Frontier OPEN Finalists Part One: Sighle Meehan, Imani Cezanne, Tija Tippett
Our first installment of poems chosen as finalists includes Sighle Meehan’s eerie and echoing “half-doors, bolted and broken,” which creates a call and response that haunts readers well after they leave the poetic space. By contrast, Imani Cezanne’s “I found…
Poetry: “Dress Up Game” by Zoe Korte
Zoe Korte pulls no punches. The first lines of their poem “Dress Up Game,” cover all the bases, from human sacrifice all the way to devout religious practice. There’s an element to the way they create pairings, both in terms…
Poetry: “Psychic, 1988: Coloring Memory, New Mexico” by Mary Robles
Mary Robles’ “Psychic, 1988: ColoringMemory,New Mexico,” is immediately eye catching because of the keenly described sensory detail: in the first lines we see “sweet & bitter chestnut paste,’” and “roses / weeping on his forearms,” both of which are unique and evocative…
Poetry: “Maternal Instinct” by Nayara Noor
The structure of Naraya Noor’s “Maternal Instinct,” feels repetitive, but as the reader looks closer, the heartbeat of the poem—a ghazal—brings out the physical language of the body, and the intimacy that the relationship between mother and daughter is invoked…
