The Ploughshares Blog

When we picture something monstrous, more often than not we conjure up something hulking and frightening, something we are unable to easily categorize or make sense of. But there is usually a fascination woven into the fear, too. How many of us had a...

In the early 2000s, being able to leave Russia for anywhere in the West was considered a significant measure of success for someone like me, a twenty-something graduate of the department of letters of Irkutsk State University in eastern Siberia. My biggest...

Statistically, Florida is the most dangerous state in America to be a pedestrian. I dare assert that, by some metrics, driving is as deadly a prospect in my home state as any other, too. Perhaps part of the thrill that attracts so many retirees to the...

With her third collection, The Century, out last week, Éireann Lorsung’s ambition is clear: to conduct a historical audit in poetry of the points of history her life touches. This imperative is increasingly common—many contemporary poets participate...