Poem by Thomas McGrath How could I have come so far? (And always on such dark trails?) I must have traveled by the light Shining from the faces of all those I have loved. If I were skilled in the art of micrographia, I would copy this poem on vellum in […]
MoreInvisible in the Torn Out Interiors by Dara Wier A man looked at us across his little dish Of watercress and peas and said he’d wasted Five years. We couldn’t ask him doing what? He said he knew he’d let some thing alive die And didn’t know how to get it […]
MoreA New Lifestyle by James Tate People in this town drink too much coffee. They’re jumpy all the time. You see them drinking out of their big plastic mugs while they’re driving. They cut in front of you, they steal your parking places. Teenagers in the cemeteries knocking over tombstones are slurping […]
MoreYesterday I listened to an anti-Valentine’s Day show on the radio. Then I read an anti-anti-Valentine’s Day advice column. What’s with all the hating on my second favorite holiday of the year? Valentine’s Day is about love. That’s all there is to it. Yeah, love! It doesn’t have to be romantic love or hot […]
MoreMIRAGE by: Christina Rossetti THE hope I dreamed of was a dream, Was but a dream; and now I wake Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old, For a dream’s sake. I hang my harp upon a tree, A weeping willow in a lake; I hang my silenced harp there, wrung and […]
MoreGray Room by Wallace Stevens Although you sit in a room that is gray, Except for the silver Of the straw-paper, And pick At your pale white gown; Or lift one of the green beads Of your necklace, To let it fall; Or gaze at your green fan Printed with the red branches […]
MoreTown Water by Michael Heffernan There always ought to be a willingness to receive the roadside’s offering of flowers to be brought home and put in fruit-juice glasses on the windowsill above the kitchen sink so we can stand there and admire alien beauty the like of which we […]
MoreDelight in Disorder by Robert Herrick A sweet disorder in the dress Kindles in clothes a wantonness; A lawn about the shoulders thrown Into a fine distraction; An erring lace, which here and there Enthrals the crimson stomacher; A cuff neglectful, and thereby Ribands to flow confusedly; A winning wave, deserving note, In the […]
MoreAir by Angus Martin The air is blowing round and round the world. It must be. I’ve breathed this air before and will breathe it again if I’ve that long to live, and can offer my mouth to it. Tonight it is blowing hard; gates and loosened bits of buildings clatter and […]
MoreTo Say Before Going To Sleep by Rainer Maria Rilke I would like to sing someone to sleep, have someone to sit by and be with. I would like to cradle you and softly sing, be your companion while you sleep or wake. I would like to be the only person in […]
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