Poetry Recordings | The Common

LitFest 2025 Excerpts: Video Poems by Paisley Rekdal

February 12, 2025 Audio, Poetry

Amherst College’s tenth annual literary festival runs from Thursday, February 27 to Sunday, March 2. Among the guests is PAISLEY REKDAL, whose book West: A Translation was longlisted for the National Book Award. The Common is pleased to reprint a short selection of video poems from West here.

Join Paisley Rekdal and Brandom Som in conversation with host Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, on Sunday, March 2 at 2pm.

Register and see the full list of LitFest events here.

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Real Estate for the Blended Family (or What I Learned from Zillow)

October 21, 2024 Audio, Issue 28, Issue 28 Poetry, Poetry

By ELIZABETH HAZEN

The Common Magazine · Real Estate for the Blended Family by Elizabeth Hazen

The houses are photographed with light in mind:
The sun, they say, is shining here. The filter

hints at lemons: fresh laundry on a quaint
old line. The “den” becomes the “family room”

where we’d play rummy and watch TV, the square
footage enough to hold all of our misgivings.

Dominus

October 21, 2024 Audio, Issue 28, Issue 28 Poetry, Poetry

By ANGIE MACRI

Danger, as in strangers, men or women;
as in twisters at night when you couldn’t
see them coming; as in the machines
that made work so easy you forgot
to watch what you were doing,

In Montgomery County

October 21, 2024 Audio, Issue 28, Issue 28 Poetry, Poetry, Poetry Recordings

By THEA MATTHEWS

The Common Magazine · “In Montgomery County” by Thea Matthews

Maryland, 2020

My partner wears the panopticon,
and I carry the rope. Hungry
for the rush, the chase, we locate
the missing black calf
about two-tenths of a mile
from East Silver Spring.
He’s wearing a long-sleeve
jersey T-shirt, navy blue jeans.

Collaboration 

October 21, 2024 Audio, Issue 28, Issue 28 Poetry, Poetry

By OLENA JENNINGS

The Common Magazine · “Collaboration” by Olena Jennings

We are stretching towards each other,
words tangling. The words can’t always 
be torn apart. Sometimes you 
are ти. Sometimes we touch.

Call and Response

April 22, 2024 Audio, Issue 27, Issue 27 Poetry, Poetry

By TREY MOODY

The Common Magazine · Call and Response by Trey Moody

My grandmother likes to tell me dogs
understand everything you say, they just can’t
say anything back. We’re eating spaghetti

while I visit from far away. My grandmother
just turned ninety-four and tells me dogs
understand everything you say, they just can’t

It’s Important I Remember That Journalism Is the First Draft of History—

April 22, 2024 Audio, Issue 27, Issue 27 Poetry, Poetry

By CORTNEY LAMAR CHARLESTON

The Common Magazine · “It’s Important I Remember That Journalism Is The First Draft Of History”by Cortney Lamar Charleston

and Ida B. Wells, well, frustrated
the engenderment of the official record;

crisscrossed the country interviewing
poplars that had been accessories to atrocities,

Theology of Flight

April 22, 2024 Audio, Issue 27, Issue 27 Poetry, Poetry, Poetry Recordings

By CHRISTOPHER BAKKEN

The Common Magazine · “Theology of Flight” by Christopher Bakken

Morning wind speaks a dialect of smoke,
brings news from yesterday and tomorrow:
what’s burning there will soon enough burn here.

One bullet. Even a rumor of bullet
restless in the chamber of a neighbor’s gun.
To run, before he arrives with his god.

Among Trees

April 22, 2024 Audio, Issue 27, Issue 27 Poetry, Poetry

By JAMES RICHARDSON

The Common Magazine · “Among Trees” by James Richardson

We watch the trees the way we watch the birds,
sitting more quietly than we have to,
though trees do not respond to sudden motion,
a crossing fox, a knock on the window,
or anything less momentous than the day.