Michael Simms: Blue Notes
I think of Fats Waller whose left hand leaped down the keys, showing the path for every jazz pianist who followed, including the great Art Tatum and the minor Billy Joel.
Michael Simms: Writing Prompt #1 | The Quotidian Poem
This post marks the beginning of a new irregular feature in Vox Populi. I hope readers of Vox Populi, many of whom are writers, will find the prompt helpful in stimulating their creativity.
Michael Simms: The Turn
It’s the old dancers that fascinate me.
Training everyday as the body resists,
The spirit lifts them into clarity.
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.
Michael Simms: Why we must win
The Democrats have to win the 2020 election. Our survival as a nation, and perhaps as a species, depends on removing the criminal organization that the GOP has become and starting our journey to a just society. We owe this victory to our children and our grandchildren.
Michael Simms: Why you might be interested in my new book
Donate $20 or more to your favorite progressive cause or candidate, and Red Cedar Distribution will send you a free copy of my new collection of poems American Ash.
Michael Simms: A Few Thoughts from a Cowboy Vegan
I grew up in Texas beef country down the street from a world-famous barbecue stand. I didn’t become a vegan until I was 54 years old. I probably have been responsible, at least in part, for the death of 10,000 animals. It’s never too late to change your life.
Michael Simms: Oh God She Says
Oh God she says
The dog has learned to spell
Michael Simms: Oh Darlin’
The intimacy
Of strangers is luminous, the way
We wish well for the man who lost
His car keys, the woman coming in
Out of the rain, the girl who missed
Her bus, the boy who stutters.
Michael Simms: Praise the Poet
Empires fall and buildings crumble, but songs and stories survive.
Michael Simms: Bus
One afternoon at a bus stop in Ruston, Louisiana we picked up a single passenger, a huge man in a dirty plaid shirt, grease-stained khakis, and unlaced boots covered in mud.
Michael Simms: A Brief History Of Tree Hugging
The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters.
Michael Simms: Minneapolis
He died in Minneapolis on an ordinary day,
A day we’ll all remember.
We can’t turn away. It was a day
Like this one, a Monday, in Spring.
