Barbara Hamby: Ode to My Younger Self
You were so beautiful and stupid though you thought
you were smart, and in a way you were,
because you loved poetry and Beethoven and apples
Sally Bliumis-Dunn: Biology Lesson
I thought I’d be bored
looking at the slide but instead
felt unsettled, as though
something had been taken
Michael Simms: Magnolia
Suppose you held what you love so tightly
you broke it
Suppose you let something slip away
Barbara Crooker: Diorama
Mother stands by the stove, waiting
to serve. Father has tamped down
his anger for the night.
Joshua Michael Stewart: Functional
Because the dead
remind him that splinters in his palms
are gifts, he builds cabinets, chairs, houses.
His life is work, no room for self-indulgence
Dion O’Reilly: Luke Johnson’s Heroic Journey
Luke Johnson’s debut poetry collection portrays a dream world linked to a stark reality, where generational trauma is recognized as an artifact of mind, a collection of leaping memories that haunt and possess.
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!
Pascale Petit: Hummer
The suitcase I found
on the shelf above his bed, with its jars
of mummified occupants, how I unwrapped
the photo curled around each hummingbird couple
like a sarcophagus
Kim Stafford: American Crazy Quilt
John Henry’s hammer ringing
twinkle, twinkle little bombs bursting in air
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: The Medicine of Surrender
It’s like opening the dictionary
to the word heaven. Or obliteration.
And knowing it’s the same thing.
James Laughlin: Easter in Pittsburgh
the telephone rang it
was Mr. Shupstead at the
mill they had had to use
tear gas father made a
special prayer right a-
way for God’s protection
Jack Stewart: El Greco’s Barmaid
In small town life, lovers are grist
for any gossip’s mill, even when the barmaid
stays at home, thinking about the cool grass
by the river, watching the moon pass
Joan E. Bauer: The Apple Pan on Pico
When you are seeking greatness, turn to the Apple Pan, a homey 1940s institution imitated everywhere from Duluth, Minn., to Bahrain. — Jonathan Gold, Los Angeles Times food critic, 2013 … Continue reading
Toi Derricotte: Invisible Dreams
I have to make a
place for my body in
my body.
