Michael Simms: The Chemistry of Love
Oxytocin and
Dopamine dancing
In the hallways of attachment
Michael Simms: The Democratic Field Narrows to Three Candidates
Although the Iowa Caucus was an epic fail, it did make a few things clear.
Audio: The Ballad of Birmingham
At 10:22 a.m. on the morning of September 15, 1963, some 200 church members were in the building—many attending Sunday school classes before the start of the 11 am service—when the bomb detonated on the church’s east side, spraying mortar and bricks from the front of the church and caving in its interior walls.
Michael Simms: Re-reading Christina Rossetti's 'In an Artist's Studio'
The value of Rossetti’s poem lies in both the expert use of the Petrarchan sonnet, a particularly challenging form to master in English, and in the poet’s complex stance on the role of art in creating and re-enforcing images of women.
Michael Simms: The end of civilization as we know it
I want to apologize for walking in
When the dog was licking
Your bald head as you lay
On the couch drinking rum
Straight from the bottle…
Dorothea Lange: The Photographer as Activist
Dorothea Lange not only created a number of iconic images, but she also was a pioneer in the use of photography as a tool in addressing social injustice.
Michael Simms: The Story of Autumn House Press (1998-2020)
Most literary presses fade away when the founder leaves, so I cannot tell you how much it thrills me that AHP continues into the second generation.
Michael Simms: Scarf
The old man and the blonde woman smiled and waved at me, and I felt a surge of gratitude to be among such decent people in this lovely city in a dark time when the light of kindness seems so rare.
Video: Three dances to welcome the New Year
Here are three of my favorite electro swing performances.
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.
Paul Celan: Death Fugue
Black milk of dawn we drink it in the evening
we drink it at noon and in the morning we drink it at night
Eva-Maria Simms, Michael Simms: Translating Rilke
Every thing is protected
by a grace ready for flight,
every stone and flower
every child at night.
Michael Simms: Antbed
You may remember my father
died when I was eight
my mother closed up
the house and we went to stay
with my grandmother for a few months
Michael Simms: Who Will Tell Them?
Goodbye elephant bird
Who frightened Sinbad.
Goodbye wigeon,
Curleau, lapwing, crake.
Goodbye mascarene coot.
Sorry we never had a chance to meet.
