James Laughlin: Easter in Pittsburgh
the telephone rang it
was Mr. Shupstead at the
mill they had had to use
tear gas father made a
special prayer right a-
way for God’s protection
Michael Simms: Snow
her father sitting alone in his underwear
having stripped off his blackened clothes
and leaving them on the back porch,
white skin of his legs, black dust on his face
Michael Simms: House
You want to lie down in the lost field
of your courage and sleep
beside the blurred road of snow
Michael Simms: Sometimes I Wake Early
Last night we took a friend for a walk along the edge
of our mountain. She looked out
over the city, the rivers, the sultry slopes
crowded with sumac and maple
and said So you know where you live
Mike Schneider: Gerald Stern (1925-2022)
In a flashy white-straw hat, leaning on his bright red metal cane, step-by-step silently making his way to a seat at the podium, Stern commanded the audience without a word.
Angele Ellis: “Raised Incorruptible” | In Book of Entangled Souls, Richard St. John tests the boundaries of life and death, compassion and spirituality 
St. John looks deeply and compassionately where others might glance away or move on, and draws the reader along with him.
Paola Corso: American Future
Snapshot of my father as a young man
standing at the top of hillside steps
Molly Fisk: The Lineage
the poets, tethered to each other
in the popular mind as if we were one
big family and we are
Sheila Carter-Jones: Running into a high school classmate years after
I was the only, back then Negro, girl
in a class of four hundred waves splashing,
tossing me about in the crash
Sharon Fagan McDermott: Carrie Furnace, Pittsburgh
The light is water driven through old gears and red lights sweep the streets looking for the lost while flaking brick simmers in itself like stew, and black graffiti … Continue reading
Video: Terrance Hayes Reading “Arbor for Butch”
MacArthur Award winner,Terrance Hayes reads “Arbor for Butch” from his collection, Lighthead at the 92nd Street Y. Originally uploaded on November 18, 2010.
