A site of history and a landscape once marred by violence is reimagined with a gesture towards gentleness in Gellman’s poem. ‘Night Logic’ begins its readers at the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard but then cracks open the world so…
A poem contained by a single childhood memory. The poem’s logic moves between the space of domesticity and the ominous as a young Nigerian boy comes to understand what his role in his family will become. Yusuf’s poem guides its…
Love is our single most power that defies the finality of death. Gorgeously achy, yet grounded in a domestic setting, the poem’s speaker paints a landscape of longing punctuated by hope. Speaking to My Lover from Beyond the Grave …
A tender record-keeping of the body and its ability to turn on its owner, Theo LeGro’s poem navigates a history that resists blame, that resists anger, but rather leans into what could have been–a life not marred by disease. And…
A prose poem guided by the touch, blood, faith, and obligation, Saúl Hernández has woven a delicate tapestry of lace with language. Writing that is equal parts revealing as it is visceral, Hernández invites us into a world that straddles…
While tapping into the playful and surreal, Katherine Gaffney’s poem illustrates the transformation of pregnancy while also negotiating what it means to “shape and ears” such a dance that makes the body fluid and magical. THE BURLESQUE OF MOTHERHOOD…
Olúwádáre Pópóọla’s poem takes on the shape of water and seemingly its history–one that is vast and complicated with suffering. From a “rootless life” to a “failing government”, the speaker guides its readers through of dense geography of language and…
Abbie Kiefer’s poem shoves the reader in their body, lights up that “spectral record of root and bone” we call the poetic experience. In today’s world, of screens and headsets and thin sheets of glass glued to metal in every…
In “Spring Ritual”, the speaker negotiates themselves amidst the rituals of renewal, loss, migration and spirituality. The speaker is governed by a sense of wonder which is further exemplified by a rich menagerie of sounds and vivid imagery. Spring…
In “Squirrel Poem,” the speaker comes to terms with the fate of the discarded, the squirrels on the road, the neglected graduate students. Ultimately, the speaker confronts this otherwise harsh reality: “We will make them look at us.” Squirrel Poem…
