Month: September 2021
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Love Letter from Inside Fatherhood by Fritz Ward
Inside the trap, I spend weeks remodeling the haven you’ll haunt. Not for the joy of it, but for the wonder that keeps snapping my neck. Come December, there’s a morning when the sun slathers the bare trees in saffron and I hold you more delicately than I’ve ever held myself. See how we’ve risen […]
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The Ocean Inside Him by Rick Noguchi
After Kenji Takezo fell from a wave, The turbulence of whitewash confused His sense of direction. He breathed in When he should have Held tight. By accident, he swallowed The Pacific. The water poured down his throat, A blue cascade he could not see. He felt in his stomach The heavy life of the ocean. […]
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September Tomatoes by karina Borowicz
The whiskey stink of rot has settled in the garden, and a burst of fruit flies rises when I touch the dying tomato plants. Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms flail in the air as I pull the vines up by the roots and toss them in the compost. It feels cruel. Something in […]
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Lord Knows by Kwame Oposu-Duku
It gets messy underneath the veilwhen the strength it takes to becan zap the moisture from your skin,and all you want is to be held to thebreast of a beautiful being and never let gowhile the beautiful people sing, ‘I hope your new soul remains pure!’ And lord knows what we loseonce we believe we […]
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Abiku by Wole Soyinka
In vain your bangles cast Charmed circles at my feet; I am Abiku, calling for the first And the repeated time. Must I weep for goats and cowries For palm oil and the sprinkled ash? Yams do not sprout in amulets To earth Abiku’s limbs. So when the snail is burnt in his […]
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The Haunted By John Masefield
Here, in this darkened room of this old house, I sit beside the fire. I hear again, Within, the scutter where the mice carouse, Without, the gutter dropping with the rain. Opposite, are black shelves of wormy books, To left, glazed cases, dusty with the same, Behind, a wall, with rusty guns on hooks, To […]
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Photograph from September 11 by Wislawa Szymborska
They jumped from the burning floors— one, two, a few more, higher, lower. The photograph halted them in life, and now keeps them above the earth toward the earth. Each is still complete, with a particular face and blood well hidden. There’s enough time for hair to come loose, for keys and coins to fall […]
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California Prodigal
By Maya Angelou FOR DAVID P—B The eye follows, the landSlips upward, creases down, forms The gentle buttocks of a young Giant. In the nestle,Old adobe bricks, washed of Whiteness, paled to umber,Await another century. Star Jasmine and old vinesLay claim upon the ghosted land, Then quiet pools whisper Private childhood secrets. Flush on inner cottage walls Antiquitous […]
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Beat! Beat! Drum!
By Walt Whitman Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,Into the school where the scholar is studying,Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,So fierce you […]
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Ode to Armpit Air
By Lisa Low Every June I think I might stop shavingmy armpits. Every summer’shalf-assed attempt involves partieswith my arms clamped shutlike when I was in middle school, afraidmy deodorant wasn’t working, or suddenlyshaving if an event called for meto lift my arms above my head. I don’t feel freelike I feel I should, even in […]
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Moonlight
By Jinhao Xie in my dream. I hold hands with my brother.we are both boys: he looks atme through his thick lashes. a squint.three years of time travel, between him and me. we are blue boys. he looks likemy future, and I am his past.three years. time holds us togetherin summer and it’s always summer […]
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Chocolate
Jinhao Xie Your grandmother’s grave nestlesin the nest of mountains’ thick hair.You try to name every tree that lookslike your grandmother. A hurricanefound underneath your seat is your uncle’sreckless driving technique. He tries to killtime by outrunning patience. Your motherholds you down in the back seat,prevents you from flyingout the window. Too soon, she says,to […]
POETISHES 