Ellen McGrath Smith — Shaken 48: How careful was I when I took my way
Hands in my pockets, the salt on the streets,
the yellowing aura that means you are here
by my side again, waking me in dread
with no buffer or bounce. It’s been ten years.
Ellen McGrath Smith: My Mother at the Alamo
I would later doubt my mother at the sink, her bruised eye shut, or my mother kneeling
near the orange bucket full of dirty water, ready to snap as drunken rants poured down.
Andrew Hanin: Congratulations (Response to Tree of Life Massacre)
Congratulations on your victory. My fear of G-D redirected toward You. . You’ll never see me set foot in that depressed sacred space. Those armed guards aren’t ready for You. … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Erasures
. To a Candid World Election Day, 2018 Dependent on his Will alone, the political bands are totally dissolved: light and transient causes, convulsions within, domestic insurrection; Cruelty and … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: I want to put on a show like a Congressman
Dogs in the dog park, fighting pretty nice until someone unleashes their alpha, and the humans rush in to do the rough equivalent of calling their elected representatives, pulling their … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: A Royal Wedding in the Trump Era, Or My Sixth Grade Civics Head Explodes
No I’m not watching royals get married this weekend. If I want shiny surfaces, I’ll find a river, lake, or pond, the bathroom mirror. Are we destined to worship descendants … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Tammi Jo Schults
To be a woman of a certain age the day the hero pilot is a woman! As though, suddenly, a failsafe illusion just evaporates: There is a type of … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: The ascendancy of the word “Douchebag”
can be attributed to Twitter and other social media. Compared to other obscene slurs predating the Internet, “douchebag” enjoys much more frequency and vehemence. It’s fun and satisfying for the … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: 9 1/2 Months
This is not a film I wish to be in but there’s nowhere else to go; so I sit on the deck, let fall slow-bruise my heart, pretend this French … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Stay Here and Keep Watch With Me
Sane Soldiering in the Information Wars Incoming! Late in the day on Friday afternoons, when many of us used to look forward to some downtime alone or with friends or … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Epic Men
In the eighth grade, he must have pegged me as the one to watch, he cornered me on the way out of class to find out what I’d gotten on … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Deconfliction Dance Party
What’s your mood and modus operandi? We’ve got many rooms, one for every need and every provisional alliance, each contingency. Sound-proofed so your experience will not be compromised. Here’s … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Politics
Thank you, red, blue, and purple map on TV, for showing us as we truly are, smaller than the people in the Lexus ad, smaller when separated from the whole; … Continue reading
Ellen McGrath Smith: Shaken 126 — O thou my lovely boy who in thy power
The beauty of me Dost hold Time’s fickle glass his fickle hour is that I’m very rich and my women are beautiful. My fingers are long and beautiful, as, … Continue reading
