poem with only a little bit of sacrilegeMyles Taylor I wanna be like the heroes in the moviesbut every time I drop something I instinctivelyjump out of the way / I don’t know how to re-wireself-preservation but without it I might not survivelong enough to be in the...
Andrew Cherif
Amy M. Clark’s “Now Approaching Porter Square” and Amanda Hope’s “Prayer After”
Now Approaching Porter SquareAmy M. Clark On the Kendall Station platform,I leave a dollar for the young womanplaying an accordion while stomping one footharnessed to a pulley that sets to dancingher dressed-to-match marionette doublestrung inside a...
J.D Debris’ “[New thorns, 2020]” and Ezana Demissie’s “the US is on the brink of war and i’ve just taken a chem test”
[new thorns, 2020]JD Debris from CHALINO SÁNCHEZ: A SEQUENCE Pull the thorns from this borderline‘til barbed wire runs smooth against a palm,‘til coils of concertinafold back inside the accordion with a sigh. Write the crimestory of this borderline & paper-planeit...
Annual Report 2021
Disability Justice Folio
For the last two years, Mass Poetry has been bringing you the “Hard Work of Hope,” a series of poems from members of our community that tell the story of the pandemic and all its ripple effects in our lives. But we cannot tell the full story without hearing from...
Robert Knox’s “What the Earth is Like” and Roselyn Kubek’s “Necessity”
What the Earth Is Like By Robert Knox “It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart” – Rilke, The Songs of Orpheus, No. 21 The earth is like a younger brother,who follows his sun around, copying his ways, rising from the...
Angelo Mao’s “The Portuguese Man-of-War” and Frannie Lindsay’s “The Rabbits of Upland Road”
Portuguese Man-of-War Angelo Mao is not a real creature, being madefrom a collusion of organismsunder one sail. Nevertheless, its tentacles can reachthree times a grown man’s height,dangling so far that one cannot seetheir ends, because sea-water, by that depth,...
William Tilleczek’s “The Idea of Eleanor” and Carolyn Cushing’s “Messenger”
The Idea of Eleanor William Tilleczek Hail, corner-rounder and surpriseUnder the table! We are your luck,You ours. We await even your hiccups:There is nothing to prove. Every radiantLove is in your face, now forming atIts break-neck pace each day. We waitTo hail you,...