Archive for February, 2010
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
“Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem” by Matthew Olzmann
Matthew Olzmann
MOUNTAIN DEW COMMERCIAL DISGUISED AS A LOVE POEM
Here’s what I’ve got, the reasons why our marriage
might work: Because you wear pink but write poems
about bullets and gravestones. Because you yell
at your keys when you lose them, and laugh,
loudly, at your own jokes. Because you can hold a pistol,
gut a pig. Because you memorize songs, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
“Thaw” by David O’Connell
David O’Connell
THAW
Mid-March, noon, the sunlight presses
warm against the city like a hand.
The T.V. says it’s record-breaking,
says it’s toppled ’47, and this streak
may last the week. Ties loosed, blouses
cut low and blooming color,
the lunch hour crowds rejoice. Music
blasts in snippets. Skaters rocket
from the steps of the museum
where office workers picnic
and the statuary fairly glows.
Today, winter is [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Friday, February 26th, 2010
“Miserable” by Dave Newman
Dave Newman
MISERABLE
Inside the Pipe Room, which is the hometown dive
where all the locals play pool and guzzle beer,
a cute short blonde woman, seven years my senior,
who used to be a sergeant in the US Army, says,
“He doesn’t respect me.” She’s talking about her
fiancé, a philosophy professor at Saint Francis.
He’s twenty years her senior and makes [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
DUST AND BREAD by Stephen Haven
Review by Mary Sayler
DUST AND BREAD
by Stephen Haven
Turning Point
P.O. Box 541106
Cincinnati, Ohio 45254-1106
ISBN 978-1932339024
2008, 100 pp., $17.00
www.turningpointbooks.com
Conventional wisdom in reading and writing contemporary poetry consistently encourages us to enter into the experience of a poem, so that’s what I aimed to do in reading Dust and Bread, the latest book of poetry by Stephen Haven, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in E-Reviews by Megan
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
“Crossing the Gap” by Travis Mossotti
Travis Mossotti
CROSSING THE GAP
Try asking Ernie Watts, a local bricklayer,
to explain how after a long day of work
and league night at the Lucky Strike
he can glide across the kitchen floor,
Old Style hovering like a ghost on his breath,
bowling shoes slung over one shoulder
singing fly me to the moon to his wife Cheryl.
And when he dips [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
“To the High School Thug that Broke Into His English Teacher’s Car” by Scott Woods
Scott Woods
TO THE HIGH SCHOOL THUG THAT BROKE INTO HIS ENGLISH TEACHER’S CAR
What you know about Nina Simone
could do laps on a pencil tip,
so I’m struggling to understand
why you would steal that CD.
That you skipped the vodka in the glove compartment
but took my reading glasses is equally perplexing.
It’s not my fault you can’t handle grammar,
but [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems, Tributes by Megan
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
“Dreaming of Emily Dickinson” by E.K. Mortenson
E.K. Mortenson
DREAMING OF EMILY DICKINSON
I did again last night and when I told my wife she said,
“Are you, like, in love with her or something?” And I remembered a letter
that Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote to his wife—he was a writer
for the Atlantic Monthly to whom Emily would send her poems for comment—
about the time he [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
“52″ by Patricia Smith
Patricia Smith
52
Baffled by stark ache and symptom, I get in my bed
beside the bearded charmer who is yet in my bed.
As graying denies and dims me, I vaguely recall
the line of whimpering whiners I’ve let in my bed—
every one of them goofy with love, dazzled by curve
and color, until I screeched, “Oh, just get in [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Poems, Tributes by Megan
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
RUIN AND BEAUTY by Deena Metzger
Review by Lori A. May
RUIN AND BEAUTY
By Deena Metzger
Red Hen Press
P.O. Box 3537
Granada Hills CA 91394
ISBN 978-1-59709-425-2
2009, 312 pp., $23.95
http://www.redhen.org/
For more than forty years, Deena Metzger has been demonstrating her dedication not only to penning wonderful poems, but also to living a life as a Literary Citizen. When reading the media release provided by the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in E-Reviews by Megan
Friday, February 19th, 2010
“Conversation” by Joe Mills
Joe Mills
CONVERSATION
Daddy, what are these?
my three year old daughter asks,
pointing to the car grill
and the dozens of insects
we have smashed
while driving around.
I want to say “spots”
or “nothing” or
“I don’t know.”
I want to put off discussions
like this until she’s older
or at least with her mother,
but I know I can’t.
Bugs, I say, Just bugs.
Why are they there?
We [...]
