I overhear a boy humming "Jolene" while he practices long division by Carolyn Oliverand, sudden as a train’s blue note—I know I don’t deserve it—Dolly Parton becomes the president.The West Wing’s garlanded in rhinestones, fringedin bushels of Tennessee River...
Groundhogby Laura RodleyThe groundhog’s fur is silver, silkily rippling in the windas she chomps ends of grasses, clover, not yet have I seen her eat anything that causes consternation;she has scoured the walking path festoonedwith acorns that have...
How to Skip Stones by Ed MeekDo you remember keeping your eyes openfor flat, oval rocks to pocketon walks to the pond?Saving the best for last, you’d leanto one side and flick your wristflinging the stones just off the water.It isn’t easy to defy gravityand make a...
Social Distancing Becomes Me by Kerry LoughmanRemotely I discard the sentiment of hearts beating as onewhen no two hearts can beat equally without cost. I am the least trod path and mask my fearswith the polished nicetyof a forced smile....
Ms. B by Megan ScudellariIf tonight’s raincontinues its dogged dropsdrops will wash away the egg scentscent to barricade bunnies from the tulipstulips bursting from bulbs entombed in the fallthe fall after the bunnies picked the impatiens to deathspring impatiens...
A Word from Death during the Pandemic by Deborah Gorlin These days when I feel distanced from ceremonies in honor of my undoings, a memory arises unbidden, of a cliffside funeral in a tiny village, one of five, linked by rocky paths through...
Safe Passage by Brad CrenshawIAll said, things are settling down.It’s that sort of world, definitelyhaunted, but those who know report that roadsare open in Los Angeles, where peopletry to breathe again, and citizensin India can see the Himalayaswhite as frozen...
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Life Before the Virusby Lesléa NewmanI.I remember shaking hands:damp sweaty hands and dry scratchy hands,bone-crushing handshakes and dead-fish handshakes,two-handed handshakes, my hand sandwiched between a pair of big beefy palms.I...
exist by Naomi JonesBlack people let’s write you a love letter 1,For the way you never dim, always vibrant,Laughing.Exploding.Let’s let you experience joy and waterFor the width of an ocean and the depth ofreleasePressure.Let’s cause an earthquake with your laughbring...
Flowers for Sarah by Talia Grossman David says “flowers might be nice.” His face, a worn map of waiting rooms.His eyes, reels of prescriptions,tired of doctors playing the slots. He can’t decide between tulips or canterbury bells,between yellow, pink, or purple. I...
Angel Oak by Therese Gleason CarrGreat treeteach me how to live,to bear thousands of days and nights,how to witnessand survive.What your hollow eyes have seen—how heavy your twisted limbsoutstretched in tortuous pursuit of heaven,how sinewy your rootsmooring you to...
Marjorie Thomsen’s “Haloed” & Christine Jone’s “This, Too, Shall Pass”
Nevertheless Jessica Jacobs This time is sacred for the good or bad it could become but isn’t yet. For the 4 a.m. phone that doesn’t ring but might. Ma nishtana ha’laila ha’zeh mi-kol ha’leilot? Why is this night different than all other nights? It’s not. It’s only...
Killer Fruit by Emily Cooper I.God created the animal spirits,the beasts, and then his man. Four legscleaved so two might reach in awefor the heavens while two might tamp the earthhe came from. II.The serpent saw a lie in the eye of God, knowing the...
Corvid Spring by Elizabeth Moore Bird-watching soars amid COVID-19 as Americans head outdoors— AP headline, May 2, 2020 Since I cut your hair on the patiothe backyard birds have been threadingit into their nests. Now chicks comeof age in your curls. Early morningsI...
Sheltering: Family Notebook by Mia Ayumi Malhotra for my daughters, with lines from Louise Glück Ready or not, here we are. We’ve been lost and found, gone underground. We’ve raised cardboard cities, pounded flowers to pulp. Danced like seeds, sprouting. We’ve been...
Even After by Janelle Tan the dead bat in the hallway –wings folded, shriveled on its side, the year we greetedbats with terror and asians with diseased and spit.even after a car turned burning meteor in the FDR tunnel, the smell of rubber on firedispersed seven...
Gathering Ingredients for Sancocho in Appalachia During a Pandemic by Amy M. Alvarez I find platanos easily enough I can do without cassava,but no one here has heard of chayote,even after I look online and findthe ugly English word for it. It’s not that I like...
Equinox by Tamiko Beyer Dear child of the near future,here is what I know—hawks soar on the updraft and sparrows alwaysreturn to the seed source until they spot the circling hawk. Then they disappearfor days and return, a full flock, ready. I think we all have the...
Corn Meal Boderra Joe An early spring morningwind hands-over blessings to mother earth’s moutha low prayer nudges at corn husk the eastern sun dancesabove lilac mountains sheholds a jarclose to the tassels to dust off pollen to offer a prayer of any sort a pinch of...
JAW[N]BONE SOUP JAWNBONE SOUP In kitchen’s habit, I rite a roll of what the poem could read. This roll to recipient as receipt to recipe. I have a slight lisp overcompensated for though tireless exercise. Disable bodywork to lifepractice. Who is iyoi practicing for?...