The Cartoon & Poem Supplement

"Damn it, doesn't anybody on this ship..."

Poems:

"Dragonflies" by Gregory Pardlo: Plays against Pardlo's strength, which is an effortlessly roving intellectual curiosity that remains accessible and grounded in the personal. The personal is here, and Pardlo can weave a wonderful phrase ("like my tongue was busy putting boat / knots in phantom maraschino stems") but there are some odd clunkers here ("It’s / like his lips are sewn shut in some horror-flick / affliction") and the narrative of familial habits feels weightless even after the volta's swerve into masculine stoicism.