Michael Simms: Oh Darlin’
The intimacy
Of strangers is luminous, the way
We wish well for the man who lost
His car keys, the woman coming in
Out of the rain, the girl who missed
Her bus, the boy who stutters.
Michael Simms: Praise the Poet
Empires fall and buildings crumble, but songs and stories survive.
Michael Simms: A brief note to Vox Populi subscribers
Dear Friends, Just want to let you know that we’ve added two new categories to our menu of posts: Fiction and Literary Criticism and Reviews. The menu can be found … Continue reading
Michael Simms: Bus
One afternoon at a bus stop in Ruston, Louisiana we picked up a single passenger, a huge man in a dirty plaid shirt, grease-stained khakis, and unlaced boots covered in mud.
Michael Simms: A Brief History Of Tree Hugging
The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters.
Michael Simms: Variations on Vallejo
They killed you in Memphis on a Thursday.
On a balcony with your friends
You held your hands on the railing
And looked over the long field
Into the next life.
Michael Simms: Minneapolis
He died in Minneapolis on an ordinary day,
A day we’ll all remember.
We can’t turn away. It was a day
Like this one, a Monday, in Spring.
Michael Simms: All-time Most Popular Posts in Vox Populi
My favorite comment about Vox Populi comes from contributor Doug Anderson who said, “Vox Populi is basically a personal blog that seems to have swallowed a small planet.”
Michael Simms: And Jesus Wept
Our friend Christian, an African-American and one of the best men I know, told my wife that when he saw the video of the murder of George Floyd, he wept for hours.
Michael Simms: Ten things I should have figured out before now
Love is complicated. Courtesy is simple. Start with courtesy.
Michael Simms: On my recent experience with Covid (maybe)
Yesterday afternoon when I got home from the hospital and booted my computer, I was overwhelmed by the thousands of people who sent me messages of love and encouragement after my recent health scare.
Michael Simms: A True Story of How I Almost Became a Rock and Roll God (with special appearance by Iron Butterfly)
So there I was, jumping up and down on a king-sized bed in an expensive hotel in Miami Beach, drinking rum straight from the bottle. And right beside me, jumping up and down, playing the air-guitar and blasting out his famous song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, was Doug Ingle.
Edna St. Vincent Millay: Oh, sleep forever in the Latmian cave
Oh, sleep forever in the Latmian cave,
Mortal Endymion, darling of the Moon!
Michael Simms: A Story About My Daughter's Kindness
The woman took a small knife out of her apron pocket and held the blade to the goat’s throat. Do you want to be responsible? What’s twenty pulas to you? You are a rich American and this is just a poor Botswana goat. Have you no heart?
