Category: Uncategorized
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the settlement/ a city can pay a mother to stop crying
Jericho Brown’s Bullet Points (You’ll notice this post’s title is from the end of the poem.) Also, check out this Vox article “The anger behind the protests explained in four charts.” And if you are a white person wondering how you can help, there are about a million resources out…
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I am so sorry, so, so sorry.
This poem is from Claudia Rankine’s book Citizen. Read it here. The quotation I chose as a title for this post is from the last section of the poem, when the trauma counselor the speaker has an appointment with viciously orders her to leave when she rings the bell for…
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If When
This is a poem I wrote in 2016–four years ago–after Philando Castille was killed by a police officer after being asked to reach for his ID. His girlfriend filmed the aftermath of the shooting and put it on Facebook. Read more–including that the officer who shot him was eventually found…
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Quarantine Dream
Here is an original one-line poem for your amusement on a Sunday. (If you want more one-line poems, check out Michael McFee’s The Smallest Talk. The best $6 you’ll spend all year.) Quarantine Dream First we shook hands; then we French kissed.
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Like a white snail…
This poem contains what has to be the best simile in all of literature. WITH SINCEREST REGRETS Russell Edson Like a white snail the toilet slides into the living room, demanding to be loved. It is impossible, and we tender our sincerest regrets. In the book of the heart there…
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“dark dark and never again”
This is one of my favorite poems whose poem itself answers the question that is the poem’s title. WHAT DO YOU WRITE ABOUT, WHERE DO YOUR IDEAS COME FROM? Charles Wright, Appalachia Landscape, of course, the idea of God and language itself, that pure grace which is invisible and…
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Fun poem for springtime
Here’s a poem I retyped by e.e. cummings. A fun poem for this time of year. I used to read this one with high school students. I promise it does have a fun organic logic. Enjoy! r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r e. e. cummings r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r who a)s w(e loo)k …
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“A Brief for the Defense”
Jack Gilbert’s “A Brief for the Defense” is a beautiful poem about happiness amidst sorrow. Read it below at The Sun–scroll toward the end of the piece for the poem, or if you have extra time (ha!) read about his life and work, too, and some of his other poems.…
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“All things come to an end”
Today I offer what may be my favorite poem of all time, Ruth Stone’s “Train Ride.” I’ve posted this poem before, long ago, but it’s so perfect for this moment in history (and all moments) that I have to repost it. Last summer I memorized it at a tiny, lovely…
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Thanks
Hello friends, Thank you for all the emails and texts about my missing poems of the day! I took a break first because I went blank and now because I am writing something longer that isn’t ready. So in the meantime I’ll post some of my favorite poems for you.…
Kimberly O'Connor 