Arts in Society
Boston Review’s Arts in Society section publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and criticism. It focuses on how the arts loosen the hold of convention, bear witness to injustice, provoke new ways of seeing the world, and speak to the most pressing political and civic concerns of our time.
Browse by Genre
Criticism, Poem, Memoir, Short Story
Browse Criticism by Topic
The Persistence of Torture
The dog violet, pressing a flat ear to the ground,
has news of great importance:
it is spring
and jealousy turns its blade again.
from “The Prospect”
the river was central
each branch arterial
pulling land along with it
in form of pebbles, sand, agglomerate
Elegy with Forest and TVs
Men surrounded by lumber and nails, then suddenly a house with two kids, a dog, swing set
and barbeque, spinning on its street among other homes
on the green grass of this planet.
What Is the Anthropocenester?
1. Crisis is a rusted minivan throwing down spike strips on the highway of teleology. The Anthropocenester is in the passenger seat.
2. Crisis bangs on the table and demands immediate action in the form of risk management or hazard mitigation. The Anthropocenester wipes up the coffee that spilled.
from “Soft Targets”
Don’t blame the wisteria for setting off a feeling like freedom a feeling like joy.
We watched the people walking in the open square—
one of them was a specialist in killing, fear was the way of others.
I’ve seen the most extraordinary thing about people, their faces.
Mechanics of Action
From far away the child’s singing
sounds like the cries of a rat
in the mouth of a python.
Left Behind by Korea’s Success
Hwang Sok-yong’s novel Familiar Things sounds a warning about the pitfalls of Korean reunification.
Athena Dreams of a Hollow Body
Once I learned of the existence of mothers, I decided to order one for myself.