Tag: Poetry

“When Angela Asks Me a Question,” a poem by Antonio Lopez

—for my hermanita when she loses hope in school You’re armed with a non-toxic shadethat bleeds through Xeroxed sheets—the wicked clonesof an English textbook. Office Depot-issued holsterof highlight markers take aimat the 12 PT tremor. “Hey Tony, sorry to bother you.But what is this asking?” Thirty dollar uñas gloss over the district’s wear-and-tear,…
“AR-15,” a poem by Gabriel Welsch

A reason to burn the newspapers.Arrive to work in tears from hearing the Ardent words of parents on the radio immolating anyArguments about the right time, the right Areas to debate. Yearn for when the world ignitesArdor. Every few minutes Arch your back, deny the screen, roll yourArms to get the blood flowing properly. Watching…
Three Poems by Jill M. Talbot

Retrial: If We Just Lay Here If I just lay hereLet’s just lay hereIf we just lay hereIf you are the heroI will be the bad guyIf I am the bad guyYou can be the heroIf we just lay hereIn our superhero costumesIf we wear our costumesTo bedWe’re something else entirelyIf we’re something else entirelyWe’re…
Two Poems by Rachel Edelman

The Real Work There’s no reality TV showthat opens with a close-up of fingers snappingone twig and anotherto stack a stove with kindling. In an off-the-grid cabinI slip a lit match beneath a birch bark curl.Splinters creak, a whine wanes,a flame ascends, whoosh.Musical interludes?Shavings fizz;sap ekes out a pop.Wood chips turn to coals;flames grow hungry.…
Two Poems by Success Akpojotor

two BUTTons sitting on our faces Nature’s changing course remains unsliced like a big garlic bulbrendezvousing in cycles of loops and a merry-go-round in an abyssinhabited by gypsies with no roots as a phone call is now a twentiethcentury culture: but we’ve seen this a thousand times from 1918 to 45& two BUTTons sitting on…
“TRANSCRIPT: Donald Trump’s Speech Responding to Assault Accusations,” erasure by Mackenzie Bush

And so now we address the slander and libels that was just last night thrown at me by the Clinton machine and the New York Times and other media outlets, as part of a concerted, coordinated and vicious attack. It’s not coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment, and all together at…
“Dumb Bunny Bomb,” a poem by Eric Tyler Benick

I think they dropped it this morning I awake in a warm pot with heirloom carrots and herbs de Provence asking what’s for dinner Outside my window is New York except today it is Laramie Wyoming I am told it is like this everywhere No casualties more a staggering casualness Televisions check their phones A…
Poetry: “Ouroboros” by Nancy Hightower

At fourteen, you see how the world is:the sky full of holes, your stepmother a wounded sparrow, prompting your father to hide all the guns. You’re the trigger, he whispers, slips you a pistol when you graduate college. At twenty-five, you receive an invitation to their hidden compound somewhere in the country, over the rainbow…
Two Poems by Alyse Bensel

Broken Sonnet I want to reach inside of him. I’m tiredof his lack of sleep, the need to build worldsin his head all night. He’s tried to burn allthe pictures I’ve kept. A silent bird makestrees hush.He always wants me sleeping.So I combed the moths out of my hair, wantingmy head to ring like a…