Robert Okaji: Postcard from Pandemic
They stack their cart with essentials:
frozen garlic, six packages of grilled
mushrooms, fifteen cans of garbanzo
beans, three bottles of truffle oil
Ellery Akers: Our Grief for the Earth is Hidden
When I was born
I thought I’d be taken from the earth
I didn’t think the earth would be taken from me
Video: Leonard Cohen — Tower of Song (Live in London)
Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I’m crazy for love but I’m not comin’ on
I’m just payin’ my rent every day in the Tower of Song
Joel Christensen: Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales
As someone who writes about early Greek poetry, I spend a lot of time thinking about why its performance was so crucial to ancient life. One answer is that epic and tragedy helped ancient storytellers and audiences try to make sense of human suffering.
David Adès: One Manifestation of Compassion
I did the only humane thing left
Marc Jampole: Weinstein Enters the Courtroom
slithering through deep mud
in concentric circles of power-tied lawyers
Robert Gibb: A Paragraph for W. Eugene Smith
“The infinite mistake of Pittsburgh does not take from the fact that the set of photographs is among my finest.”
Judith Vollmer: For Aaron Sheon
“The body doesn’t make sense by itself,” you said, pointing the red-tip
wand at the chalky nudes of Ingres.
Majid Naficy: Corpse of the Revolution
I do not wait for poetry
But go in search of it
Because my wings are broken
And I am left far from my nest…
Molly Fisk: Elegy (for Leah)
her infinite soprano
and my street drawl voicing words that could
depress a saint
Video: Godka Cirka (A Hole in the Sky)
Alifa has reached the age when girls in her village undergo a ritual cutting she fears.
Rabindranath Tagore: Face to Face
Under thy great sky in solitude and silence,
with humble heart shall I stand before thee face to face.
Doug Anderson: The Fool
At seventy-five I find myself in love.
Not the serene love of an old man
steeped in the wine and wisdom of years,
but one who would kill a dragon for her.
Miriam Levine: Daylight Savings
There’s more light than anyone would need.
At six o’clock the sky is bright.
I have my friend’s last poem to read.
