The library found its writers
A few months ago we asked this community a question — and the answer surprised us.
A few months ago, we asked this community a question: would anyone want to write for us?
We didn’t know what to expect. The Poetry Library was still young, the ask was informal, and we weren’t sure whether a corner of the internet built around a small nonprofit press would produce serious readers willing to do the unpaid, unglamorous work of close criticism. We were wrong to worry. The response was immediate, and it was good, not just enthusiastic, but genuinely sharp.
Over 6,000 of you now read along with us here, and it turns out a meaningful number of you also want to write.
Three new pieces went up in the library this month, and I want to point you toward all three, because each one does something I don’t think we could have written ourselves.
I Am Woe: Ophelia’s Lament and the Making of a Self in Hamlet
by Avery Harris
Avery takes on one of the quietest, most overlooked speeches in Hamlet — Ophelia’s lament after Hamlet’s rejection — and argues that it’s the moment Shakespeare finally lets her define herself, in the only language grief leaves available to her. The reading moves outward from there, into Sufjan Stevens and the long tradition of lyric lament.
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
by Niharika Agrawal
Niharika reviews Terrance Hayes’s American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin — seventy poems under the exact same title, and an argument for why that repetition is the whole point of the book.
When Logic Meets Choice: Reading Millay’s Love Is Not All
by Shivani Trivedi
Shivani close-reads Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Love Is Not All,” making the case that the sonnet isn’t really about love at all — it’s about the burden of having to choose.
Which brings me to the actual news: we’re looking for more contributors.
We’re looking for writers who can commit to two pieces a month for the library — close readings, reviews, craft essays, whatever your particular obsession is, as long as it’s rigorous and it’s yours.
The ask is simple, and we want to be upfront about it. No AI-assisted writing; we want your sentences, not a model’s. In return, contributors get discount codes on our books, and as the press grows, we intend for that list of benefits to grow with it.
If that sounds like you, or like someone you’d send this to, just reply to this email and tell us what you’d want to write about. We read every reply.
More soon, G. K. Allum
I would be interested in contributing two articles a month - a friend forwarded me your email and thought my work might be a good fit with your mission. I invite you to have a look at my current work on Substack and reach out if you would like to discuss potential collaboration. Thank you.
Do you publish any poetry