"where tension and presence is story"

Poetry, our oldest (?) poetry journal (American), has been an intarissable fountain of material since the Ruth Lily bequest of 2003. My earlier post on the "poem before it became the title of a book" linked to its publication (as well as, indirectly, to a reading by its author). In the April 2020 issue, Ocean Vuong's latest poem (or most recently published in Poetry) appears — "Not Even This", as well as his reading it, as well as the foundation's April 27 podcast (one of many), as well as … (intarissable, as I said).

The podcast (about eighteen minutes long) consists of two editors interviewing Vuong and his giving another reading of "Not Even This."

Don Share: This was Vuong's first return to poetry after writing the novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. That novel employed a Japanese narrative form that Vuong says he carried through to the poem, "Not Even This."
Ocean Vuong: The great credo in Western narrative is no conflict, no story. And this Japanese form called Kishōtenketsu is kind of the antithetical maneuver to that where tension and presence is story.

I recommend the Wikipage on Kishōtenketsu, the poem (my new favorite), the discussion of lineation in the podcast, and another way to read this wonderful autofiction.