Poetry: Combinatorics, 2 by Raphael Luis J. Salise
Some poems land with a whimper, some with a wrenching—”Combinatorics, 2″, by Raphael Luis J. Salise, lands with a blade gripped between its teeth. Combinatorics, 2
Category: General
Poetry: This city was once beautiful by Michael Imossan
Exuberant in its decay, crushing delicacy, hopping over spilt blood and the ruins of bodies and cities and pointing a gun directly at you, the reader, face lit by a screen of metal and glass: Michael Imossan’s “This city was…
Poetry: Southern Summer #1 by Keri Withington
“If it doesn’t smell like bleach,” the speaker asks, “how do you know it’s clean?” Keri Withington’s “Southern Summer #1” is a poem that defines its own clean smell: of green things and wet things and the way young bodies…
Poetry: When we were young by Mayank Chugh
Sometimes, you’ve got to make way for the joy, the sweep of it across your sense of sweat and time. Thank you, Mayank, for giving our team that, and for giving us your poem to share. When we were…
Poetry: Distance by Jane Morton
Jane Morton’s latest poem burrows into the reader’s body and ripens there. In the end, “Distance” is a poem that tries to wrap around the gap of loss, asking us what it means to let go, to move on, to…
Poetry: Song of Grief X by Alex Webster
Every poem in its way is an incantation of reanimation, and Alex Webster’s: “No gunshot. No head wound. / No sound, but the moon— / Raw and shy.” Webster’s newest poem, “Song of Grief X”, piles visually like feathers tumbling to the…
Poetry: WHEN THE SKY IS FULL OF DESIRE, THE GODS ARE CLOSE by Maxine Patroni
Greek tragedies will always be grounds for modern exploration, a tradition Maxine Patroni engages beautifully here. A delicate poem that slides its intimacy behind punchy short lines and ghostly women, “When the Sky is Full of Desire, The Gods Are…
Poetry: Eternal Sunshine by Sihle Ntuli
Existent because of Terrance Hayes, the golden shovel form lifts up two poems at once, held side by side, fingers interlaced. Sihle Ntuli’s “Eternal Sunshine” finds itself only within that embrace—only within the echoes of Nxumalo’s piece can the full expression,…
Poetry: ODD HISTORY by Leigh Lucas
Leigh Lucas makes a providence of image, condensing so much meaning to a single, inevitable point—a destiny in 5 lines and 44 words. Notice and enjoy, just how much mystery “ODD HISTORY” releases from the tension within its one powerful…
Poetry: Inferno
One of poetry’s many superpowers is the ability to lend a voice to the dearly departed. “Inferno” allows Melanie Trinidad one last moment to speak to her beloveds, who survived the fire that took her life. In the last breath…
