A poem a day by a different poet for National Poetry (Writing) Month, a tradition inspired by poet Maureen Thorson.
Steven Cordova Resolution Feeling stiff As Stonehenge I hinge at The hip—hip Unbroken, Hip that cuts A dance move, Hip that thrusts At flesh (when It can!), hip Still hitting Or standing. Steven Cordova is the author of Long Distance (Bilingual Review Press, 2010). His poems are forthcoming in The Notre Dame Review and The … [Read more…]
F Cade Swanson Running Sometimes I wonder If my friends who died If my lovers who died Would be angry with me. If the grief I felt for them If the rage we shared Is somehow diminished By my catching this disease. Back then it felt Inevitable That I would catch HIV Or that it … [Read more…]
Olivia Hajioff Flight I can fly. Why shouldn’t I? It’s easy. When I was a little girl, I flew down the stairs. No one saw me, but I know it’s true. I will tell you how I do it: I uptilt my chin and stretch my arms by my sides. My fingers point down and … [Read more…]
Hailey Chen Dissipating Connection Within these whitewashed walls, I yearn to sew her spalling body together, and retrieve the music that once twinkled out of her mouth. Yet, only echoes of soft raindrops fill the void in my ears; Her reticence, a reminder of how the augurs are adrift within her despairing body— tightly gripping … [Read more…]
Elizabeth Brewster Thomas To A Poet Dying Young for Frank Vincent I didn’t know you well, just enough to say hello in the waiting room at Student Health. You said you’d been waiting two hours for test results; I’d come for blood- letting, too, myself. The chair downstairs was 70s living room, dinge- yellow, tape-bandaged. … [Read more…]
Ma’Kayla Washington Secret You tried so hard to keep it secret, But we grew too old for oblivion. I know you get pills delivered and you take them every day. I know they aren’t “stress pills” Mama, I Googled your medicine; I know what those pills are for. But still there is so much more, … [Read more…]
Denzel Xavier Scott Hot.Ivory.Vision (HIV) Beam down with such intensity, Hot Ivory Vision, that I scream out, I am changed. The world is changed, too. The world is changed and should have been made more kind, more cautious, more contemplative, and wise, and yet… a new wonder shines in an impossible future that is here … [Read more…]
Giuseppe Bartoli Address to a Condom O you! made of ribbed rubber how softly you stroke my lover in places where I cannot reach your stroking looks like such a skill as if you had all the time to kill before making her beseech. O you! don’t break my faith in thee continue to cling … [Read more…]
Sergio A. Ortiz Génocidaire Our “separate-but-equal” was always a crime against pigmentation and bank accounts. I hunger for jail sentences. Your voice leaves me trembling with anger. Night’s pregnant with raw desolation. You’ve botched virus procedures painting the portrait of our parting lives, I dress with the only skin I have, your rival, never your … [Read more…]
Jennifer Shneiderman 1995 Nurses chatter in Tagalog Obliviously buttering toast With tongue depressors. Dirty upper windows reveal IV poles slipping silently by like ships masts Stealthy patients Playing cat and mouse with security And T-Cell counts Furtive lighters flare in the stairwell The desperate Seeking cigarettes and conversation On forbidden rooftops. Survivors slouch on cold … [Read more…]