Video: Air
An ode to human connection, ‘Air’ evokes through image and music the emotional resonance between people when they almost, but not quite touch.
Chard deNiord: The Hand
a finger here, a knuckle
there, but never the hand al-
together, except in a vision
for which I’m loathe to take
any credit, even for a nail
Michael Simms: Angela fell in love with her monkeys
Hearing about Angela’s monkeys
And thinking of Winchester
Barking at the bursting sky
Reminded me of Moondog
Bhikshuni Soma: Neither Male Nor Female
He said: How could a woman who knows no more than how to cook, clean, and make babies, possibly reach the further shore, on the way to which so many … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Is this my hand?
Come home, prodigal,
and sit with me. We’ll watch
the film together and laugh.
Adrie Kusserow: Breathe With Me Barbie
Every day, the girls, named after the colors of cows,
pour Barbie body parts from the plastic bag
Jose Padua: Head Over Heels
At the doctor’s office in Charlottesville, Virginia
to investigate the possible reasons
for my ten-month-old son’s large head,
the doctor measures my own
and informs me that my head size
is off the curve, off the charts
Alessia Carneval: The history of protest songs in Tunisia and their link to popular culture
In Tunisia, the protest song is called al-ughniya al-multazima in Arabic, or chanson engagée in French. Both literally mean “committed song” and put an emphasis on the political and social aim of this genre.
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Then, you stop
Then, you stop weeping. Lift your face from your hands.
James Crews: Tomatoes
He came back grinning, gripping
a bag of homegrown Beefsteaks so fat
they were already bursting their juices
through the brown paper
Edgar Lee Masters: David Matlock
Except as it swarms in the sun-light of youth,
Strengthening its wings on what has been gathered,
And tasting, on the way to the hive
From the clover field, the delicate spoil.
Kaveh Bassiri: Writing Persian
During the hostage crisis, when I was Albanian,
my history teacher conceded, “You’ve to be born into English
to be its rightful citizen.” I wanted to be an American poet,
but was a Persian settler.
Rachel Hadas: Fingernails
Vanessa Redgrave thought whatever
separates life and death
is tiny as the sliver of a fingernail.
Rick Campbell: What I Might Want Today
If I lived dedicated
to the pursuit of beauty what old roads would I walk,
how parallel the roads to truth? Could I get
there from here, in this little poem?
