Laure-Anne Bosselaar: The Garden
Because everything I learned from the stained
glass windows I was told to kneel under
still remains thorned & stained & torn,
& all the teachings I was told to believe, still
leave me dis-believing & I wish it were not so —
Robert Stewart: The Hole
The first time I took a turn on a jackhammer, on a sewer-repair crew, the foreman told me to strap steel toe guards onto my boots. My boots already had toes … Continue reading
Richard Krawiec: Facing it at the Halal Market
All the mothers and children, who were having such a hard time, the children, it wasn’t fair, who needed SNAP and how the store wanted to serve them too, but they hadn’t received approval yet.
Shadi Karamroudi: All the Time
Hearing that her teenage sister is planning to commit suicide, Toranj is in limbo, not knowing how to react.
Beverly Gologorsky: Aging in a Trumpian World
We must loudly proclaim our right to feel safe, to be free from hunger and assured of our healthcare and shelter.
Byron Hoot: On That Day
In a few days, it will be the anniversary
of my father’s death and I will have
to see if grief visits or stays away.
Fred Everett Maus: Growing Up
Until I left for college, I lived in the same home with my mom and dad. The house was built in 1924. My grandfather was the first owner.
Edna St. Vincent Millay: Say what you will, and scratch my heart to find
Laugh at the unshed leaf, say what you will,
Call me in all things what I was before,
A flutterer in the wind, a woman still;
I tell you I am what I was and more.
David Kirby: Leg Day at the Gym
Life isn’t always hard, but it’s almost never easy.
Daniella Toosie-Watson: A Series of Small Miracles
Listen: in this poem, there are no men.
I give to myself & give again.
Barbara Crooker: Coffee
Because each day
is a fresh new start, revised as the sky
after rain. Because my mug is full
of dark goodness, and the day is a clean
blank sheet.
Sydney Lea: Poor, Sad Soul
I’d seen that balding woman before, the one I watched as she transferred a few small sacks of groceries from her shopping cart to her Kia Soul, a car I considered too young for her.
Mel Leonor Barclay and Shefali Luthra: ICE puts pregnant immigrants and their babies at risk
Fear of deportation is deterring people without permanent legal status from critical care. Doctors are worried for their health — and the health of their pregnancies.
