poetry
2020 Countdown, day 11: Enough with the parting
On day 11 of the end of 2020, let’s turn to Israeli poet Natan Zach who died this November. I left his poem “Against Parting” at Michigan Central Station. The 1913 Station, once called Detroit’s “Ellis Island” and later the favorite of “ruin porn” photographers, is being renovated by Ford Motor Company. (You can link […]
MoreCountdown 2020, day 14: containing the wolf
Only 14 more days till the end of 2020, and with breaking news of the months-long government cyber attack, there are ever more reasons to be anxious. Because so many of us have channeled our anxiety into epic closet-purging and shelf re-organizing, I left Arthur Guiterman’s “Everything In Its Place” in the container aisle of […]
More2020 Countdown, day 15: when you just can’t take it anymore
Fifteen days till the end of 2020 and four days till the official start of winter. Winter, the dreaded season, the season Dr. Fauci has been warning us about since the pandemic began. If Fauci weren’t such a gentlemen, Ezra Pound’s expletive-filled “Ancient Music” could be his cri de coeur. I left the poem in […]
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2020 Countdown, day 18: stuck in the dog house
Eighteen more days till the end of 2020 and our stay-at-home life goes on and on and on and on. Here’s a Charles Bukowski poem for the stir-crazy. I taped to a no-parking sign in a quiet suburban neighborhood. wearing the collar by Charles Bukowski I live with a lady and four […]
More2020 countdown, day 21: Safety mask
On Day 21 of the 2020 countdown, a poem about masks in a drugstore where a different kind of mask is sold. We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— This debt we pay to human […]
More2020 Countdown, day 22: Can’t shop for this gift
Day 22 of the 2020 countdown finds us on a small pond in a nature center, contemplating contemplation. One of the biggest gifts this year brought us is time and space for contemplation. Priceless Gifts by Anna Swir translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan An empty day without events. And that […]
More2020 Countdown, Day 23: there’s no place like home but I wish I could leave
According to latest statistics, over half of Americans under thirty now live with their parents. For the 23rd day before the end of 2020, a poem for people who’ve had to move back home. I left “Home is so Sad” on a “Please Slow Down” sign in a pretty suburban neighborhood. Young adults whose lives […]
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