PETER VERTACNIK
Poet. Translator. Critic.
POETRY
2025
"Local Weather," First Things
"The Greenway," Image (forthcoming)
"Last," Nimrod (forthcoming)
​
2024
"In Memory of Ray Dolby, The New Criterion
"Photograph," The New Criterion
"The Two-Body Problem in Cyberspace," The New Criterion
"Odd Elegy," The Cortland Review
​
2023
"The Quality of Small," Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review
"Ground Level," Potomac Review
"Lullaby for an Adult," Phoebe
"Gardeners," Pembroke Magazine
"The Diver," Bad Lilies
2022
"False Elegy Beginning with the Moon," Literary Matters
"The Fenced Field," The Midwest Quarterly
"Trace," 32 Poems
"Sleeping in Your Parents' Bed, THINK
"Late Inquiry," The New Criterion
​
2021
"Apology to Candles," The Hopkins Review
"The Yellowjackets Speak," Bad Lilies
"Seasonal," Bad Lilies
"Mourning Doves," Folio
"After," North Dakota Quarterly
"Wind," North Dakota Quarterly
"Departure," Clackamas Literary Review
"The Question," Clackamas Literary Review
"My Father's Face," The MacGuffin
"Vanity," Rat's Ass Review
"Daybreak on Lake Huron," River Heron Review
"Conscience," Asses of Parnassus
2020
"Collars," Alabama Literary Review
"My Mama's Schmaltz," Alabama Literary Review
"Teacher's Lament," Alabama Literary Review
"On the Night-Stand," Asses of Parnassus
"Constitutional," 8 Poems
"Sugar Beets," Psaltery & Lyre
"Concerning Pedestals," Asses of Parnassus
"Home Movies," South Florida Poetry Journal
"The Book," Water~Stone Review
"Fears," Better Than Starbucks
"Balance," Poet Lore
"Anesthetic," The Hopkins Review
"Reader's Guide," Asses of Parnassus
"Standardized," Asses of Parnassus
"Peonies in July," Valparaiso Poetry Review
"Reading Together," The American Journal of Poetry
2019
"Seasonal Change," Asses of Parnassus
"Hyperopia," Asses of Parnassus
"The Viewer," Literary Matters
2018
"Bedtime Story," The Orchards Poetry Journal
"A Plea to the Media," Asses of Parnassus
"'Why Are We Doing This?'" Asses of Parnassus
2017
"Accolade," Asses of Parnassus
"Dial Tone," Asses of Parnassus
"Final Illness," Asses of Parnassus
"Malpractice," Asses of Parnassus
"Nomenclature," Asses of Parnassus
"Winter Visitation," Autumn Sky Poetry Daily
2016
"Visiting Hours," Autumn Sky Poetry Daily (reprint)
"Patient," Asses of Parnassus
"Riddle," Asses of Parnassus
"American Medicine," Asses of Parnassus
2012
"Art," Lucid Rhythms
"Visiting Hours," Lucid Rhythms
​
​
PROSE
2023
"Nibbling Animals," (review of Jason Guriel's On Browsing and James Pollock's Durable Goods), Literary Matters
Review of Ernest Hilbert's Storm Swimmer, The Spectator World
Review of John Moessner's Harmonia, Plume
2022
"Notes of an Associative Reader," 32 Poems, Contributors' Marginalia
"Of Love and Boundaries" (review of Nicholas Pierce's In Transit), Literary Matters
"A Momentary Stay Against Bric-a-Brac" (review of Daniel Brown's Subjects in Poetry & Boris Dralyuk's My Hollywood and Other Poems), Able Muse
​
TRANSLATIONS
2022
"End of Fall," (Rilke) THINK
2020
"Fall Day," (Rilke) The American Journal of Poetry
​
2019
"Fall," (Rilke) Literary Matters
INTERVIEWS
BIO
Peter Vertacnik was born in Saginaw, Michigan. He holds degrees in creative writing and English from The University of Florida, Texas Tech University and Penn State University. His poetry, translations, and criticism have appeared in 32 Poems, Bad Lilies, The Cortland Review, Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, The Hopkins Review, Literary Matters, The New Criterion, Phoebe, Plume, The Spectator (World), THINK, and Water~Stone Review. His debut collection of poetry, The Nature of Things Fragile (Criterion Books, 2024), won the 2023 New Criterion Poetry Prize. He lives and works in Florida.