Michael Simms: Nightjar
a nightjar flies over the ruined houses
carrying a soul, passing it
from one bird to the next,
never content with its song
Most Popular Vox Populi Posts for 2021
At the end of each year, I enjoy compiling a list of the Vox Vopuli posts which attracted the most viewers. This year, for the first time, I’m also noting the single most popular post in each category since VP was founded in April, 2014. If you see an author or title that looks interesting, I hope you’ll visit (or re-visit) the post. Thank you for being part of our community! — Michael Simms, editor
Michael Simms: Jesus
Sixteen and running
From my father’s fists
I once tried to jump on a moving train
Michael Simms: Satan and the Snowman
I don’t have relationships,
the old drunk explained
with surprising wisdom,
I take hostages.
Michael Simms: Dear Vox Populi subscribers
The next VP posts will go live on Tuesday, December 14, with a meditative poem about light and dark by Baron Wormser and a passionate essay about violence against women by Sarah Lahm. You don’t want to miss the work of these two gifted writers.
Michael Simms: What it wasn’t
It wasn’t bigger than a breadbox.
It wasn’t smooth as glass.
It didn’t smell good or bad
Or have any taste whatsoever.
Michael Simms: Mac
One of my first mentors was Mac McInerny, an old farmer who hired me when I was 16 to work in his greenhouse and to do handyman repairs for his friends. We drove around town in his beat-up pickup truck delivering gravel and lumber, fixing roofs and planting trees.
Michael Simms: The Door
The first time I saw him
he was a beautiful Irish boy,
an extra in a Synge play…
Virtual Book Launch! “Nightjar” by Michael Simms, w/ Gerry LaFemina, Gail Langstroth, and Sharon Fagan McDermott — Today!
Poet and classical scholar Rachel Hadas notes that the poems “recall the darkly vatic voice of Brecht’s late lyrics. Yet, Simms always sounds like himself: plainspoken, intimate, vulnerable, courageous.”
Michael Simms: Compost
fine white strands
of mycelium reach
into the cells of the woody stalk
and hard husk of sunflower
Michael Simms: Tree of Life
God, like a lazy cop,
Never seems to be around
When you need Him
Michael Simms: Meconium
it is sacred, the way
soil clinging to the seed
of a new shoot
pushing out of the earth
is sacred
Michael Simms: The Seafarer
I can sing the song if you like,
Go on about the going, the work,
The desperate unendurable days….
Video: Michael Simms reads five poems of joy and acceptance
Imagine being so in love
The mistakes you make
Keep you on the ground
Imperfect and happy
