Miriam Levine: They Call It Menopause
my brain
lit up with fantasies in
which I was dominant, a top,
not on men but women.
My thrusts were cruel.
William Shakespeare: Sonnets 18 & 19
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws
And make the Earth devour her own sweet brood
Barbara Hamby: 17 Dollars
That’s how much the man who owned DuBey’s gave me
for my books that time you insisted
they were taking up space and we needed the money.
Michael Daley: The Kid
When the junkies stole everything in Albuquerque,
we turned north
thinking maybe Taos would unfold its risky secrets.
Yongbo Ma: Midway Stop
It was an autumn long ago
I was still young then, still in love with something
Elizabeth Romero: O’Brien’s Funeral Parlor
The family, humble and resigned as a canvas jacket:
Their faces full of a still, impassive sorrow
Dawn Potter: Ode to the Haverford Park Apartments
Stubbed-out cigarettes & the Ramones playing loud at 2 a.m. on a stereo
that the guy you’re with paid for by flipping burgers all summer & it
has the best speakers he wastes so much time telling you how great
these speakers are & you are annoyed you are like Take my clothes off
but you don’t say it out loud because christ isn’t it obvious
Carol Moldaw: Game Face
To see the ravages of aging on one’s face used to be inevitable.
Now it means one’s taken a stance.
Video: Youth
A teenage girl takes a step toward adulthood in contemporary Cairo.
