Vox Populi

A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature. Over 15,000 daily subscribers. Over 7,000 archived posts.

Joan E. Bauer: It Takes a Lifetime

They’d both mastered the ‘poetics of place,’
small-town Mississippi and post-war California.
Welty believed & surely Macdonald agreed:
‘No art ever came from not risking your neck.’

March 27, 2023 · 8 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: Great Art is for Everyone

Papp was a communist, raven-haired, charismatic,
His mission: free Shakespeare for the people.
He borrwed lights & props, scrounged for costumes.
Even his wife didn’t know Yussef Papirovsky
began as a tough street kid in Brooklyn.

February 8, 2023 · 7 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: They Left Chicago Behind

Saul Bellow called Chicago: a prairie city with a waterfront
& the trees he remembers, elms & cottonwoods.

January 2, 2023 · 5 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: Dear Federico

Tonight, we’re watching Amarcord,
your dream-mix of homage, fable & satire.
The boisterous half-grown schoolboy Titta,
the fiery father, the long-suffering mother.

April 23, 2022 · 5 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: All But Lost

in the small print of NASA history
the story of my father: Harold E. Bauer,
known as Hal, technical director
of that workhorse, the Saturn IV-B.

January 26, 2022 · 3 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: Echo Park

On the cargo floor of a battered Chevy van,
an old man is working. Lopez Shoe Repair.
Oxfords, monk-straps, derbies, pointed boots & loafers.
Seven days a week.

November 18, 2020 · 1 Comment

Dear Vox Populi subscribers,

At 7pm tonight the official launch of American Ash, my new collection of poems published by Ragged Sky, is happening. I’ll be reading with two wonderful poets — Joan Bauer and Richard St. John.

October 16, 2020 · 3 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: Arcosanti

A dusty paint cloth of rust and ochre,
the desert before us as we pass shark fins
of agave & prickly-ribbed saguaro.

October 3, 2020 · 2 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: The Sisterhood of Buddleias

Sarah plants a butterfly bush
for the purple, nectar-rich splendor in a pot.
Hannah wants some pink extravagance
to beckon hummingbirds.

September 2, 2020 · 1 Comment

Joan E. Bauer: Get Your Kicks

This August my niece Holly will drive
the Mother Road. She’s a writer & I say:
Don’t miss anything: not cornfields, chili fries,
maple syrup farms, not the Big Texan
Steak House in dusty Amarillo…

July 22, 2020 · Leave a comment

Joan E. Bauer: W. Eugene Smith in Minamata, Japan 1971

Smith frames: Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath
The mother cradles Tomoko, her misshapen daughter.
Light through a dark window.
A post-modern pietà.

May 13, 2020 · 2 Comments

Vox Populi: An Interview With Our Editor

On Friday, we caught up with poet, blogger, editor and activist Michael Simms at his kitchen table where he was preparing his Saturday morning post for Vox Populi.

February 22, 2020 · 28 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: Brilliant Modernist, Armored Life

Afraid of heights, she stood on ledges.
To onlookers, she’d say:
Buddy, I’m not a nice girl. I’m a photographer.
I go anywhere.

January 11, 2020 · 2 Comments

Michael Simms: Here are the most popular Vox Populi posts of 2019

In 2019 Vox Populi published 751 posts, usually two per day, resulting in over 8 million views. Here is a list of our most popular posts in 2019 listed by category: poetry, personal essays, political articles, and art/music/cinema.

December 26, 2019 · 8 Comments

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