Joan E. Bauer: Dear Communist, Dear American
for Dorothy Healey (1914-2006) Dear Ms Ebullient, dear Ms Unstoppable, dear Red Queen of Los Angeles. Dear Dorothy born Rosenblum, Red-Diaper Baby. Did you really read Upton Sinclair … Continue reading
Joan E. Bauer: At Poets House, Remembering Muriel Rukeyser
I was born the same year Rukeyser gave birth to her son William & my mother’s frequent threat was to disinherit me: for registering Peace & Freedom, leaving home … Continue reading
Joan E. Bauer: Telling My Friend Nancy about the Poet Amy Clampitt
Forgive me, she happened to look & think & sound— rather like you, especially the youthful Amy with beret & pearls in London. Her voice: fervent & eager, rising in … Continue reading
Joan E. Bauer: Dynamite Hill
for Angela Davis Nothing made her angrier than silence (and inaction)— made her skin prickle. Even as a child, she’d break up a dogfight on the hot streets of Birmingham. … Continue reading
Joan E. Bauer: Flash
We must travel in the direction of our fear. -John Berryman Eileen Simpson begins with his photo: clean-shaven, ascetic, but an impish grin. He’s holding a pipe. Dark … Continue reading
Joan E. Bauer: After the Battle of Caporetto, 1917
I have come to rescue you -Benito Mussolini Mules on the road, troops mud-slogged, wet in their capes. Heavy guns drawn by tractors. Where the … Continue reading
Joan E. Bauer: Framed in Braintree
for Sacco and Vanzetti In Braintree, ten miles south of Boston a touring car parks on Railroad Avenue. A haggard man at the wheel. At three o’clock the … Continue reading
Joan E. Bauer: Edward Snowden Is Flying into Moscow
On a day of just bearable June heat after the summer solstice, a quiet Sunday as Edward Snowden is flying into Moscow, I am studying photos of a Northside garden: … Continue reading
