Dion O’Reilly: Ringo Starr
You weren’t the one I loved. I must confess:
I didn’t have the depth yet. It was Paul, of course
his droopy eyes and putty lips,
babylike, unthreatening, despite the then-
brutal sexiness of the songs.
Beverly Gologorsky: Aging in a Trumpian World
We must loudly proclaim our right to feel safe, to be free from hunger and assured of our healthcare and shelter.
David Ades: So, This Is What It Is
I am like a child who has wandered off
and doesn’t know the way back,
or an old man, disoriented, not even alarm
crossing the blank canvas of his face.
Byron Hoot: On That Day
In a few days, it will be the anniversary
of my father’s death and I will have
to see if grief visits or stays away.
Luray Gross: Small Fists Knocking
Is a poem a teaspoon of salt in the ocean,
one grain of sand placed carefully
on a turret of the castle
just before the wave rushes in?
Christine Gelineau: Artificial Intelligence
It was Kristallnacht that motivated
my mother-in-law’s parents
to put her and her younger sister
on the Kindertransport train
to England
Robert Cording: Dome Houses
When erected, the domes must have looked
like something built to colonize Mars.
Fred Everett Maus: Growing Up
Until I left for college, I lived in the same home with my mom and dad. The house was built in 1924. My grandfather was the first owner.
Beth Copeland: Second Wife
Fifteen years ago I drove south to see you as trees broke
into bloom—redbuds, pears, dogwoods—and my heart
unfolded like a bud closed too long in the cold.
Edward J. Curtin Jr: A Luminous Tapestry of Truth
The martyred heroes’ tales recounted in this book are sorely needed now when the survival of our planet is at stake.
Edna St. Vincent Millay: Say what you will, and scratch my heart to find
Laugh at the unshed leaf, say what you will,
Call me in all things what I was before,
A flutterer in the wind, a woman still;
I tell you I am what I was and more.
Patricia A. Nugent: The Opposite of Love
“You are abnormally nervy,” he texted. Since it didn’t exactly read like a compliment, his words caused me to reflect on how my activism may be perceived.
Gary Margolis: Overlooking the Sea
Who wouldn’t want
to be led back to their century,
their tent, their house of stones?
Their window, overlooking the sea.
Sharon Zhang: Zohran Mamdani Wins Decisive Victory in NYC, Triumphing Over Billionaire Onslaught
Mamdani’s win is a historic victory for the left over a powerful, moneyed coalition of forces that aimed to defeat him.
