Poet translator Peter Valente considers Basil King’s poetry and politics in constant conversation with his visual art in a thoughtful essay based on his close readings of King’s visual and poetic work and an interview. “The dark and the unforgiving can be corrected by a text; history, poetry, politics, language is everything” he quotes King. “And Basil does it in all his works.” The essay appears in spoKe 8, (2021) edited and published by Kevin Gallagher, massspoke.wordpress.com. $11.