Michael Simms: Black Brick, Yellow Brick
I will die in Pittsburgh on a beautiful day…
Belinda Kong: How Chinese people came together when separated by quarantine, creating hope, humor and art
Fear and blame appear to be fast becoming Americans’ defining emotions around COVID-19. Headlines seem to offer either worst-case estimates or government leaders’ mutual accusations. Amid the bewildering figures and … Continue reading
David Adès: One Manifestation of Compassion
I did the only humane thing left
Doug Anderson: The Fool
At seventy-five I find myself in love.
Not the serene love of an old man
steeped in the wine and wisdom of years,
but one who would kill a dragon for her.
Video: Tom Lehrer | The Vatican Rag & Send the Marines
What do we do? We send the Marines!
For might makes right,
And till they’ve seen the light,
They’ve got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
‘Till somebody we like can be elected.
Edna St. Vincent Millay: Humoresque
“What queer books she must have read!”
Video: Liberal Redneck | Super Tuesday Smorgasboard
Us liberals got a choice to make, y’all. Then the real fun starts.
Seamus Heaney: Pangur Bán
Next thing an unwary mouse
Bares his flank: Pangur pounces.
Next thing lines that held and held
meaning back begin to yield.
David Huddle: Parable of the 4 a.m. Demons
My mind yearns for sleep so innocently it refuses
the perverse truth…
Dawn Potter: Sonnet in Search of Poems I’ve Never Written
I’ve been meaning to write about a patch of mossy
frogs’ eggs in a vernal pool, about a single contrail
chalking a blue November sky…
Vox Populi: An Interview With Our Editor
On Friday, we caught up with poet, blogger, editor and activist Michael Simms at his kitchen table where he was preparing his Saturday morning post for Vox Populi.
Video: Grandpa’s Groove
The old man Santiago didn’t catch a fish for days
He returned unhappy and was pretty damn ashamed
Jose Padua: Self-Portrait as Human and as House
I can’t imagine how boring I’d be now
if I’d always been the best person
I could be instead of operating
at fifty percent of my capacity
or sometimes even less.
Michael Simms: The Chemistry of Love
Oxytocin and
Dopamine dancing
In the hallways of attachment
