Michael Simms: A note to our readers concerning Vox Populi’s coverage of the war on Gaza
I’ve received a number of complaints that Vox Populi’s coverage of the current conflict in Gaza is one-sided, and I have to admit it is true.
James Crews: The Poetry of Connection and Joy | A Conversation with Michael Simms
My husband is a farmer, so we often wake up before first light, and I go off on my own with a big cup of coffee to scribble in my notebook for a few hours.
Michael Simms: Magnolia
Suppose you held what you love so tightly
you broke it
Suppose you let something slip away
White Whale Bookstore event: Saturday April 6, 7pmET
We are so excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Vox Populi, a curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature. The site was started by Pittsburgh poet Michael Simms as a way to connect with his peers in letters, and what better way to ring in ten years than with other Pittsburgh poets, on a date that also coincides with Michael’s 70th birthday!
Michael Simms: Snow
her father sitting alone in his underwear
having stripped off his blackened clothes
and leaving them on the back porch,
white skin of his legs, black dust on his face
Michael Simms: House
You want to lie down in the lost field
of your courage and sleep
beside the blurred road of snow
Michael Simms: Against Prayer
Okay,
God of crib death
and dirty needles,
of heroin and fentanyl,
God of twisted steel
burning beside the road
Michael Simms: Writing Prompt # 8 – Start a file of your favorite short passages
Whenever I need inspiration, I go back to a collection of my favorite poems and prose passages that I keep in an electronic file on my desktop. They consistently remind me why I love writing and reading.
Michael Simms: Sometimes I Wake Early
Last night we took a friend for a walk along the edge
of our mountain. She looked out
over the city, the rivers, the sultry slopes
crowded with sumac and maple
and said So you know where you live
Michael Simms: The Song
The young man and the older woman met at an artist’s colony. They were both in the habit of walking on the wooded paths in the afternoon, so they began … Continue reading
Michael Simms: Ishmael
I’m not prepared to measure grief
like grains of darkness
Michael Simms: Rhythm Benders | The Musicality of American Poetry
A poem is rooted in the rhythms of pulse, breath and movement.
Michael Simms: Tootling Along
I hope you don’t mind my sharing links to my own recent publications.
Michael Simms: Zed
rock the baby in our arms
so mom can sleep in the next room,
hours sliding by like gentle ghosts
Vox Populi 