Jose Padua: My Obsessive Compulsive Order
When not done properly a simple action can have incredible consequences: sometimes I have to touch things twice, sometimes I have to close a door with my eyes closed, sometimes … Continue reading
Lulu Nunn: 74 Essential Books (an alternative canon)
When Open Culture recently published Jorge Luis Borges’ list of 74 ‘great works of literature’, Lulu Nunn saw one glaring issue: the list included no works by women. Whether intentional … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: That Old Shakespearean Rag
Call me “u” one more time I’ll smear spittle across the lead sky of your impoverishment. Go ahead, bear-bait me at the edge of this blood-clotted age with all the … Continue reading
Adrian Blevins: Of Madmen and Spies
I take as my theme the mentally ill, understanding as I do just how tepid the bathwater is. So let’s not neglect for a moment the voyeur’s own affliction—her writerly … Continue reading
Video: Amiri Baraka reads “Somebody Blew up America”
“Somebody Blew Up America” by Amiri Baraka with Rob Brown on saxophone, recorded on February 21, 2009 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy NY. This is the poem … Continue reading
Jose Padua: Joy
“I have a wee-wee,” my daughter would say when she was two and then she’d look at me and say “you have a wagina.” She knew it wasn’t true, but … Continue reading
Adrian Blevins: Late-Breaking Yew-Berry News from the Madman’s Love Shack
The catalogue of infractions I have committed against this world would overflow a small library, for what it’s worth. I pilfered a pack of gum before I could talk; I … Continue reading
Djelloul Marbrook: The Poet is a Luthier
A poem is a musical instrument. The way its author plays it is not necessarily the way others will play it. The poet is a luthier. He uses certain materials … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Trane
Gold snake muzzles down rat-eye alleys, pokes in hollows and hooch holes, gathers up the Hell-hurt passed out on bad juice or junk, noses out on the street, hubcup cymbal-ride … Continue reading
Sheryl St. Germain: Essay in Search of a Poem
You’ve been trying to finish a poem for what seems like a long time. It’s a poem that has to do with the death of your son. At first you … Continue reading
Celeste Gainey: i always wanted a bird
a sombrero, cowboy boots, and button-up jeans like a boy; a coloring book history of the United States, a burro (not a donkey), a mother-of-pearl accordion; the ceremonial Indian headdress, … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Tet, 1968-2015, A Valentine
Clouds heaped three tiers high on the horizon. Lightning whitens the chambers tier by tier all the way up. And again. Thunder like arc light bombing and more flashes. They’re … Continue reading
Jose Padua: Reflections on 2043 Which According to the Most Recent Census Data Is the Year When Whites Will No Longer Be the Majority in the United States
Although the odds are against it if I am still alive and able I will walk out the door of my house my head held high my legs moving strong … Continue reading
Video: Maya Angelou recites “And Still I Rise”
In this video, Professor Angelou recites the title poem from her volume of poetry And Still I Rise, published in 1978. Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 … Continue reading
