Nasser Rabah: We Are Not Iron
We are not iron, O God, so that we can be melted down every year. We are not copper or lead that they fire among the armies and leave behind after the end of the war as mere ammunition and ashes.
Gerald Fleming: The Secret
The man had the sense the secret was planning escape.
Charles Harper Webb: Flubadub Invents the Sixties
His elephant-brain conceived The Howdy
Doody Show, and chose what Old-Time
Movie played when Buffalo Bob pried open
his Hostess cupcake-with-the-surprise-inside.
Steven Ratiner: Typos
Word instead of wood but,sodden, it smoked when it burned. I wrote god for good who was, once––in my childhood years, crownedwith the nimbus of that capital G––but now tends … Continue reading
Roberta Hatcher: My Highway 61 Revisited
Well at times ideas seem so absurd
But if you leave me in peace to play with words
I’ll give you something simple
Just a little rhyme
To amuse and to help to pass the time
Video: Food for the Future
Food is culture, food is life — it’s part of who we are and the magic that binds us together. But here’s the twist: the way we eat is pushing … Continue reading
Claudia Lefko: Dear Refaat Alareer | A Letter of Gratitude
As per your wishes we’re striving to live—hopefully a deeper and more reflective life, including a life of action against the genocide in Palestine.
W. H. Auden: Stop all the clocks
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.
Alexis Rhone Fancher: Hermanas
You’re the same, you two, J, my lover, said. Of course you feel an affinity. I stared at the Frida Kahlo self-portrait in his hands. Frida’s soulful sweetness stared back. You … Continue reading
Byron Hoot: Two poems about beginning and ending
The death of my father is nearly a month
away – 31 years. The haunting of longing
has begun.
George Yancy: Pete Hegseth Has Banned 3 of My Books From the US Naval Academy
Banning books is not just about silencing people — it is about silencing critical thinking and introspection.
Arlene Weiner: For My Husband Who is Depressed at the State of the World
Lilacs perfume the city air. Smoke from wildfires
turns sunsets glorious. Talons tear the breast of the dove.
The world changes. The world doesn’t change.
Aliana Alexandra Coella Exclusa: Puerto Rico’s Resilient History Mirrors the Mangrove
Half of the world’s mangroves are in danger of disappearing. Ensuring their survival is essential to Caribbean resistance movements.
Michael T. Young: What the World Waits for
Like that day I sat in the yard
under the braids of summer light,
reading, weighing thought
against thought for what was right
or what was wrong
