Great Regulars: A professor of English at Stern College

of Yeshiva University, [Joy] Ladin's previous books include "Alternatives to History" (2003), "The Book of Anna" (2007) and "Transmigration"(2009). She has been the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry. "Grave of Craving" is included in her most recent collection, "Coming to Life."

The Grave of Craving

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: 'The Grave of Craving'

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The musicality of his [Almog Behar's] work grows not only from the tension in such a union, but also from cultural cross-pollination, and the possibilities this process has to offer.

And so, while the first poem featured today addresses the two languages and the two voices that are in conflict in the poet's very throat, in the second piece, the undercurrent of Arabic heritage envelops a Jerusalem setting in an organic, wholesome and sweetly nostalgic manner. The third poem, despite its seemingly ominous title, is a more light-hearted, humorous diversion from heavy matters of identity conflict.

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: Hebrew, Arabic, and Dead Poets

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Today, we're featuring two of the poet [Emmanuel Moses]'s works, both in Marilyn Hacker's translation. The first, "Fugue I," responds to conceptual make up of a fugue, a classical composition in which a theme is repeated in multi-layered ways throughout the piece. Here, too, certain phrases and key images emerge, gradually intensifying throughout the work. There also appears to be a lifeline to another famous fugue-poem --Paul Celan's "Todesfuge," as both walk and blur the tenuous line between life and death, and both use the word "ash" as the recurring image.

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: New Fugue to Sing

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The gravity center of [Bracha] Meschaninov's inspiration is domestic poetry, ruminations on matters surrounding family life. And so, the two poems we're featuring today on The Arty Semite are domestic Passover poems. The first piece is a light-hearted, ironic play that brings together "kitchen surfaces" and the "experience of redemption" into one sentence--as indeed tends to happen in the frenzy of holiday logistics.

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: Two Passover Poems

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After earning a bachelor's degree in Russian Literature and Classics from St. Petersburg University, [Polina] Barskova moved to the United States, where she earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and joined the faculty at Hampshire College, where she currently teaches. Though Barsokova has published seven poetry collections in Russian, "The Zoo in Winter," whose title poem is featured today on The Arty Semite, is her first collection in English.

The Zoo in Winter

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: 'The Zoo in Winter'

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