Michael Klein — Swale
A horse race from the 1980s may not seem like the obvious inspiration for a poem that celebrates so many of the things that make our lives worth living — good company (human and animal), good books, g...
12 Helmi 202414min
Ray Young Bear — Our Bird Aegis
What holds our bodies together? Yes, there are the biological components, such as the cells, fluids, fibers, but what about the bone-deep stuff, the histories, myths, aches, resolves? In “Our Bird Aeg...
9 Helmi 202413min
Suji Kwock Kim — Search Engine: Notes from the North Korean-Chinese-Russian Border
While disputes over contested lands result in damage that can be seen and documented, they also create countless unseen ruptures in the hearts, minds and souls of the humans caught in the chaos. By gi...
5 Helmi 202415min
Amber McBride — ROLL CALL: NEW TAROT NAMES FOR BLACK GIRLS
In “ROLL CALL: NEW TAROT NAMES FOR BLACK GIRLS,” Amber McBride treats us to a playful litany of language that twists and leaps and never stumbles. Flavored with old-time Christianity, old-time hoodoo,...
2 Helmi 202416min
Carl Dennis — Breath
A fragile and wondrous technology that we all possess, the human breath powers any number of things in our lives — speeches, feats of music, athleticism, and more. Carl Dennis’s powerful and meditativ...
29 Tammi 202415min
Elisa Gonzalez — To My Twenty-Four-Year-Old Self
Our lives are filled with distances, the physical spans that we travel but also the stranger, vaster expanses between our past and our present or between feeling anchored and connected and feeling ter...
26 Tammi 202414min
Ofelia Zepeda — Deer Dance Exhibition
Most of us do our eavesdropping shyly and secretively, but Ofelia Zepeda’s poem “Deer Dance Exhibition” welcomes us to listen in on an exchange between people as they watch a ceremonial dance. Along t...
22 Tammi 202415min
Sandra Cisneros — When in Doubt
Even in the most uneventful of human lives, uncertainty and doubts will inevitably intrude. When faced with those, what can you do to steady yourself? One suggestion: Turn to the poem “When in Doubt” ...
19 Tammi 202414min
