Of Jude Nutter’s poem, Ellen Bass writes, “‘Visible Woman, Visible Man’ is a capacious, complex poem. Building on striking diction, fresh metaphors, and precise narration, the poet considers the human body and the whole of the physical world, reaching back and forward in time—an ambitious journey which she carries off with aplomb. Intellectually satisfying and emotionally moving, this is a poem which deepens with each successive reading.”

We’re grateful to the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust and to all who submitted poems for this year’s contest.

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The Spring 2020 issue features new work by Michael Bazzett, Tova Benjamin, Erica Bodwell, Susanna Brougham, Lauren Camp, Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, Hedgie Choi, Caleb Curtiss, Carol Ann Davis, Lisa Furmanski, Jenn Givhan, Lisa Beech Hartz, Athena Kildegaard, Elaine Mintzer, Jefferson Navicky, Mark Neely, Linnea Nelson, Dawn Potter, Anna V. Q. Ross, Corinna McClanahan Schroeder, Jeffrey Schwaner, Lauren Shapiro, Matthew Buckley Smith, Eleanor Stanford, Lolita Stewart-White, Adam Tavel, Claire Wahmanholm, David Winter, and Lauren Yates. Also, Dawn Potter reviews books by Denise Bergman and Stacy R. Nigliazzo.

Cover image by Amy Bennett.

We stand with the people and with the many magazines and presses who have signed on to this statement written by the staff of The Offing, condemning anti-Blackness in publishing and the world, affirming the rights and righteousness of protestors, and calling on each of us to unlearn oppression.

The Fall 2019 issue includes “When It Rains in Gaza,” selected by Patricia Smith as the winner of this year’s Adrienne Rich Award, along with poems by finalists  Hillery Stone and  Jeff Tigchelaar and semifinalists Micah Bournes, K. Avvirin Gray, Éireann Lorsung, and Anna V. Q. Ross. Also featured is new work by Threa Almontaser, Daniel Arias-Gómez, Rebecca Aronson, Leila Chatti, George David Clark, Rebecca Cross, Allison Funk, Janlori Goldman, Eamon Grennan, J. Bailey Hutchinson, Donald Levering, Carolyn Oliver, Doug Ramspeck, Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, Seth Simons, Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, Gretchen Stengel, Jan Verberkmoes, G. C. Waldrep, Laura Paul Watson, and Jonathan Weinert.

Cover image by Holly Farrell.