Week of Monday, November 24th, 2025

Ye Hui transl. Dong Li, The Connection

To me, this poem is about mortality and bringing awareness to the body.
Stanza 5: Does the glass vase hold ONLY water?
It's unclear whether the original poet would have capitalized each line in this way or if that was done with license by the translator. I think a different choice would have made me like this even more.
I like (that):
- The lack of hard stops (no periods and only two commas), with line breaks acting as pauses.
- All the B sounds in stanza 3: "black-billed bird," "barn's... breath," "big," "breeds."
- The word choice creates a peaceful tone: "emit," "faint," "settles," "hushed," "release," "lay."
- Floral imagery is used to represent the fleeting nature of our lives. Line 1 references morning glories, which bloom in the morning and close by the afternoon. The meaning of the "discarded, wilted rose" in line 11 is obvious.

This one is a sentimental reflection on young, temporary love and some kind of discovery of self.
Referential context:
- Nachtstilleben in German means "night still life," but Cruz subtitles this piece "come with me."
I like (that):
- The vertical construction where each stanza is two short lines, each beginning with a capital.
- The connection from the first stanza to the last 3: "Come with me. / If there is a world." then "Come let me / Hold your hand. / You never / Have to be / In this world this / Alone, again."
- This part: "Animal, mineral / Sticky star / Formed of silver / Crystal globs / In the form of stars," which I interpret as a call to the oneness of fragile humanity and wild nature.
- All the sandwiches:
  - Stanza 4: "In the form of stars. / In the form"
  - Stanzas 7-8: 3 sentences beginning with "Cindy" which I interpret as a nickname for the speaker (the poet).
  - Line 19: "Star ride, star ride."
  - Line 25: "In this world this"
  - Journey from "Junk summer" to "black winter."

This piece explores the utility of the human body and the toll of physical work. Satisfaction in a valid accomplishment vs the futility of one individual's efforts against nature.
Now I know what hilling potatoes means!
By the title, I wonder if Isaacson means that her body itself is the economy of scale.
I like (that):
- The narrative style and use of italics to indicate dialogue.
- This part: "Each part / of me changing shape, becoming / its own tool."
- This part: "... combing the earth from itself... Every week, some quiet force... pushing it all back down."
- All the imagery around active wounds.
- The use of a ton of pauses and stops.
- Vertical format as 12 stanzas of 2 lines, in which a sentence rarely begins with the line.

I really love this one. To me, this poem feels like a big, purifying sigh.
Purpura comments on the nature of time and urges us to slow down as we move through life--even when it's difficult to do so, because that might be when it's most important.
I like (that):
- All the negatives: "No answer," "no solving," "Not finishing," "not construction," "No flinching," "untacked," "unstacking," "unworded."
- The long single-stanza construction and the variable lengths of the lines.
- A lot of articles are dropped, and the sentences are super short, which pares everything down to essentials and speeds up the pace.
- Super -ing verb heavy, which makes the experience of time interesting as you read.
- The threaded S sounds in the first sentence.
- Sentence 2: "Not finishing / ministering." To me, the entire poem could be just these words and achieve the same thing.
- This part near the end: "moments unstacking, / stormraising, pollenshifting, / and free now."