Archive for December, 2009
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
“Ode to the Bedpan” by Janice N. Harrington
Janice N. Harrington ODE TO THE BEDPAN Consider the arching hips, the buttocks squeezed, thrust upward and then pressed to that metal lip, almost sexually. Consider the bedpan—shit bucket, hat—its adaptable demeanor: triangular, oval, saddled, slippershaped, sloped, enameled, plastic, antique porcelain, disposable, yellow to match the pitcher and the plastic glass, spoon-colored or blue, the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems,Tributes by Megan
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
THE BROTHER SWIMMING BENEATH ME by Brent Goodman
Review by Sean Patrick Conlon THE BROTHER SWIMMING BENEATH ME by Brent Goodman Black Lawrence Press P.O. Box 327 Theresa, NY 13691 ISBN 1934703397 2009, 63 pp., $14.00 http://www.blacklawrencepress.com/ the brother swimming beneath me is an exciting collection of poems from Brent Goodman. Largely autobiographical, it contains familiar stories of loss and lust, self-discovery and [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in E-Reviews by Megan
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
“Mucambo” by Myronn Hardy
Myronn Hardy MUCAMBO There is one street-light in the twenty mile stretch violet kryptonite. We are walking three in a row wax idols as earth melts to garnets. I am beat-boxing (no one would believe this) the Bronx ubiquitous. The others are rapping something by an emcee from São Paulo dead the year before the claim suicide. The newspapers lie dark victims abbreviated. Hemispheric [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems,Tributes by Megan
Monday, December 28th, 2009
From “Beirut (1982-84): A Cycle of Poems” by Michael Campagnoli
Michael Campagnoli from BEIRUT (1982 –84): A CYCLE OF POEMS In the Bar of the Commodore The shelling had gone on for 24 hours, but Fouad was smiling. Coco, the parrot, was skilled at imitating the incoming. She’d whistle and everyone would duck. “At least they’re not aiming at us,” I said (I was still [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
“Say It, Say It Anyway You Can” by Vievee Francis
Vievee Francis SAY IT, SAY IT ANYWAY YOU CAN He hit her in the back of the head. Truth—finds its own coarse measure. Not long out of diapers I wore purple hot pants and danced a funky chicken. There was the boogaloo, and my aunt’s red wig that went over her hair. I knew men, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems,Tributes by Megan
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
“Load” by Christine Butterworth-McDermott
Christine Butterworth-McDermott LOAD The girl on the bench in the Laundromat is barely eleven, the kind of girl with no hint of a figure—no future cup waiting to overflow, all soft baby curves. She’ll stay that way until she’s fifty-five, except then she’ll no longer be cute, she’ll be a statistic which typifies her State. [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Friday, December 25th, 2009
THE VOICES: THE POETRY OF PSYCHIATRY by Nancy Kerrigan
Review by Jackie Fox THE VOICES: THE POETRY OF PSYCHIATRY by Nancy Kerrigan Finishing Line Press Post Office Box 1626 Georgetown, KY 40324 ISBN 1-59924-420-9 30 pp., $12.00 www.finishinglinepress.com Since I was a mental health worker in a previous life, I was instantly intrigued by Nancy Kerrigan’s chapbook The Voices: The Poetry of Psychiatry. Kerrigan [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in E-Reviews by Megan
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
“A Few Excuses” by Thomas Sayers Ellis
Thomas Sayers Ellis A FEW EXCUSES It’s not my fault I don’t know any. I can’t tell them apart either. I come from a very traditional family. Diversity darkens. It’s not my fault. A Jones drives dad and a Williams wheels mom. I can’t tell them apart either. The copyrights of culture. Blacks acting white. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems,Tributes by Megan
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
“Far” by Bruce Bond
Bruce Bond FAR Whatever I am near, she reads, you are nearer. Then she looks up, a small boy and page in her lap, each there at a reader’s distance, the sweet spot of the not too far. This closet heart, the one that keeps such dark, unreliable time— is that where I am closest, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
“They Win the Upper Hand” by Camille T. Dungy
Camille T. Dungy THEY WIN THE UPPER HAND There exists, between the woman and the pads of her busy thumbs, a long running feud caused by her thumbs’ need to turn over her engine. The woman wants to settle. Get out of the car she tells herself, her thumbs included. Her thumbs are incredulous. They [...]
