Michael Simms: Here are the most popular Vox Populi posts of 2019
In 2019 Vox Populi published 751 posts, usually two per day, resulting in over 8 million views. Here is a list of our most popular posts in 2019 listed by category: poetry, personal essays, political articles, and art/music/cinema.
Aesop: The Frogs Ask for a King
Once upon a time, the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to rule over them: so they sent a deputation to Jupiter to ask him to give them a King.
Jonathan Waterlow: The jokes always saved us — humor in the time of Stalin
In a world of stifling conformity and endless fake news, even simple satirical barbs can serve as a profoundly personal assertion that ‘I joke, therefore I am.’
Meg Pokrass: Summersaulting To Shore
My dark-haired lover explained marriage was like an animal. “There’s a smell when it dies,” he said. I let my marriage trickle out.
Jason Baldinger: A Seventy-Four Dollar Shotgun
two men in camouflage
drunk loud talk, stare at shotguns
Video: Soulmates
This video by Farid Ghanbari is a compilation of surrealistic clips from his previous films. The images have been juxtaposed in provocative ways to create a weird visual poetry.
Arlene Weiner: Catering the Office Party
Some couldn’t eat ham and some wouldn’t eat lamb;
some couldn’t eat sugar, some couldn’t eat seeds.
So what could I order for our office feast?
And how could I cater for everyone’s needs?
Baruch November: Beard 7
In its color alone,
my beard is the sun falling upon the evening
and some days
it is chaffing brambles, poison
sumac, creeping red vines everywhere.
Doug Anderson: Original Sin
I don’t know what I’ve done
but I’m guilty.
Video: Garage de soir (Garage at Night)
In this touching portrayal of lovable slackers, two brothers spend 12 months together in their family’s garage, learning from each other.
Video: A Love Poem for Lonely Prime Numbers
Performance poet (and math student) Harry Baker spins a love poem about his favorite kind of numbers — the lonely, love-lorn prime. He also has a complaint about Paper People. Here are two lively, inspiring poems from this charming performer.
Ace Boggess: Thirty Blessings for Poets
3) May the poem on which you’ve just given up be accepted by the journal you’ve forgotten.
4) May someone quote your work in a movie that has nothing to do with poetry.
Miriam Levine: Beauty Secrets of the Dead
Jen who never read anything
but bills and Sunday papers
comes back from the dead educated.
Meg Pokrass: Between Animals
I imagined climbing the Everest of his body, perching on the top of his belly like a sexy squid, dangling my breasts over the shelf of his face like fishing lines.
