New book “Saved: Objects of the Dead” tells the stories behind dozens of possessions held onto by friends and relatives of the deceased, from a prosthetic leg to a metal colander.

A.O. Scott ponders the specific gravity and unlikely grace of Kay Ryan’s “Turtle.” And we have a game to help you memorize it.

When she sat down at her computer one morning this spring, Kitty O’Meara didn’t intend to write an iconic poem, a children’s book or an opera. But in roughly 20 minutes, she did all three ...

This short poem grapples with so many themes at once — seeing, being seen, desire, racism, selfhood and memory. The poem starts in a matter-of-fact fashion with a declarative, “I don’t like ...