Places to read & lists

One place of note to always check is the Cordite Poetry Review from Australia--they have an incredible amount of translations! If you like Portuguese poetry in particular, there's a ton translated here at Poems from the Portuguese. There's a ton of great work there.

Also, I only approve of a few people on the ColdFront list of the top 40 poetry volumes of 2013--really only LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs who writes great work despite the sudden rush on the word that's the title of her volume: it's called TWeRK.

Diggs's work is amazing, and even has translation of her Spanish and Quechua language [Runa Simi] alongside the English. Her poem "black herman's last asrah levitation at magic city, Atlanta 2010" is here--it has a Beat sensibility I can enjoy, a type of Kerouac tone. Usually I'm not one for that type of thing, but she's got incredible talent. Here's more by her as well. It's very modern, with a lot of language play, but I always find that enjoyable. Even since Joyce and Pound rolled off with it, I've been onboard.

I had to go back and make sure to mention her poem "cinta iamsu mungkin or it might be love/a love son" from here with an excerpt, because it's excellent:

taisetsu na tu mio guagua nyamuk
how precious you my baby mosquito

engkau imponente gila murasaki buaya
you awesome insane purple crocodile

karakau mi cinta sampai saya chi es habuk
tease me love until my blood is dust

She is the only deserving person on that list of best poetry books. I want to see more excellent work on there, not the pale, bleak work that's listed. Also, I love the song St. James Infirmary, so check that out if you love classic music. Here's Louis Armstrong's version, 1928, that's great.

Here's an excerpt from "black herman's last asrah levitation at magic city, Atlanta 2010":
[...]

But let me tell you something:

Since I am that laconic brother who knows

how to zone in matter untouched n unseen.

When a honey wails “St. James Infirmary”

for my bones that were laid on the fiftieth funeral,

               my suspended distortion shall know when to arise n eviscerate. [...]