Before the ever-abrupt end of our shortest month, here’s a follow-up to my annual Valentine’s Day Poem Blitz. First, a face, a living Valentine. Meet Pam Woolway, Short Order Poet. Her poetry is made-to-order and on-the-spot, each poem inspired by a single word supplied by the customer. She types them on […]
MoreI don’t know what this flower is, but it’s got a hearts-and-ashes coloration befitting today’s unusual dual-celebration (Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day, in case you didn’t know). One note before I get to my annual Valentine’s Day Poem Blitz: I usually include a range of poems for all different kinds of Valentines, but […]
MoreI left a few poems in shitholes. Real, actual shitholes. Bladder Song by Nathan Leonard On a piece of toilet paper Afloat in the unflushed piss, The fully printed lips of a woman. Nathan, cheer up! The sewer Sends you a big red kiss. Ah, nothing’s wasted, if it’s human. […]
MoreInvictus by William Earnest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, […]
MoreBreakfast by Ljubomir Simovic Didn’t I say last night it will snow? What else would there be but snow? I no longer wait for the rustle of wings, or some dove to make my heart leap and shine its light on me. Snow has hatched in every den and lair putting […]
MoreAlzheimer’s: The Wife by C.K. Williams She answers the bothersome telephone, takes the message, forgets the message, forgets who called. One of their daughters, her husband guesses: the one with the dogs, the babies, the boy Jed? Yes, perhaps, but how tell which, how tell anything when all the name tags have been […]
MoreBeginning of November by Franz Wright The light is winter light. You’ve already felt it before you can open your eyes, and now it’s too late to prepare yourself for this gray originless sorrow that’s filling the room. It’s not winter. The light is winter light, and you’re alone. At last you get […]
MoreThe Sun by Judah Al-Harizi Look: the sun has spread its wings over the earth to dispel the darkness. Like a great tree, with its roots in heaven, and its branches reaching down to the earth. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up to headline like this: SUN DISPELS […]
MoreUntitled by Franz Wright If I think I have problems I look in the mirror; I go to the window, or ponder the future reduced to more or less three pounds of haunted meat. And it’s never like I always said: if you don’t want something wish for it . . . Lost […]
MoreLament by Louise Gluck Suddenly, after you die, those friends who never agreed about anything agree about your character. They’re like a houseful of singers rehearsing the same score: you were just, you were kind, you lived a fortunate life. No harmony. No counterpoint. Except they’re not performers; real tears are shed. […]
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