James Dubinsky: Veterans turned poets can help bridge divides
Today, there are approximately 20.17 million veterans – 7 percent of the U.S. population. That’s more than 20 million stories, along with the stories of their loved ones. Sometimes poetry is the most effective way to capture both the ambiguity and the story.
Michael Simms: American Ash (text and video)
Old warriors rarely
say anything about
people they killed or
horrors they saw
Jorge Guillén: Death in the Distance
What’s urgent is the ripe
Fruit. The hand already peels it.
John Samuel Tieman: Lauds
the Templar strolled the cloister
after the dawn office
the sky was a sort of orange
like he had seen in the East
Video: My Journey from Marine to Actor — Adam Driver
Before he fought in the galactic battles of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Adam Driver was a United States Marine with 1/1 Weapons Company. He tells the story of how and why he became a Marine, the complex transition from soldier to civilian — and Arts in the Armed Forces, his nonprofit that brings theater to the military. Followed by a spirited performance of Marco Ramirez’s “I am not Batman” by Jesse J. Perez and Matt Johnson.
José Emilio Pacheco: High Treason
I’d die
for ten places,
a few folks,
ports, forests, deserts, forts,
a broken city, gray, monstrous
John Samuel Tieman: In Praise of Rage
So here’s what this old white history teacher learned
from Kelvin and the Black kids in the ghetto school.
Jamie Rowan: Memorial Day | Why veterans are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic
An estimated 45,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and 181,500 veterans are in prison or jail.
Pablo Neruda: The Riddles
You have asked me what the crustacean spins between its limbs of gold
and I answer: the sea knows it.
Federico García Lorca: Weeping for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías
García Lorca’s “Weeping for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías” is by far his best known poem in the Spanish speaking world. Why is it not better known in the United States?
W.D. Ehrhart: The Farmer
A farmer of dreams
knows how to pretend. A farmer of dreams
knows what it means to be patient.
Corona's Jaws: An Anthology of Poetry
Poems by Cynthia Atkins, Jose Alcantara, Judith Alexander Brice, Michael T. Young, Sydney Lea, Charlie Brice, John Samuel Tieman, and Adrian Rice.
John Samuel Tieman: To My Fellow Socialists, And To Those We Scare
Bernie Sanders may well be nominated to be the next President Of The United States. This has engendered a flurry of hair-on-fire commentaries and editorials. I would like to inject a small note of calm and caution.
John Samuel Tieman: Self-portrait with folks in St. Louis
still I recall the rains in the islands
the cold in Mexico and how
I imagined my mother standing
on the porch looking south
Vox Populi 