First of all, I have to be honest: I have never written a good short poem. I won’t say I “can’t,” because you never know, but the skill it takes to say […]
You’re Not Broken
Shadows of leaves shifted on the window. I sat in the worn office chair I’d inherited with the office, talking with a bright, talented student who wrote astonishing poems and had implied, […]
Happy Gwendolyn Soper Day
This is Women’s History Month, which I confused with International Women’s Day, which I missed. But today should be Gwendolyn Soper Day, and as far as I’m concerned, it is. I am […]
Why Artificial Intelligence Can’t Kill Your Next New Favorite Poet
As you may have noticed, a tsunami of existential dread is sweeping creative writers and writing professors. The basic chorus of post-apocalyptic dread goes something like this: However, happily, the 2010 poet […]
A Poetry Playlist
I went to high school and college in the 80s, which means some of my formative years were spent in the period of American culture that particularly revolved around wearing the right […]
Let Us Help You Build a Better Writing Life
Is Your Writer Self Lonely, Frustrated, and Overwhelmed? Does it feel as if the demands of daily life keep pulling you away from your writing? You have to be a perfect parent, […]
Is It Okay to Drink and Read Anne Lamott?
It seemed a fair question to ask myself, since that’s exactly what I was doing. I don’t have a clear answer, possibly due to the drink. Lamott is famous for writing […]
What She Said, April 29: Dunya Mikhail
I still feel that poetry is not medicine–it’s an X-ray. It helps you see the wound and understand it.
–Dunya Mikhail
National Poetry Month 2021: One Poem to Love
…We’ll float,
you said. Afterward
we’ll float between two worlds—
five bronze beetles
stacked like spoons in one
peony blossom, drugged by lust:
if I came back as a bird
I’d remember that—
until everyone we love
is safe is what you said.
What She Said, April 8: Naomi Shihab Nye
I do think that all of us think in poems. I think of a poem as being deeper than headline news. You know how they talk about breaking news all the time, that–if too much breaking news, trying to absorb all the breaking news, you start feeling really broken. And you need something that takes you to a place that’s a little more timeless, that kind of gives you a place to stand to look out at all these things. Otherwise you just feel assaulted by all the tragedy in the world. –Naomi Shihab Nye
The Gloria Sirens 