An Unemployed Machinist by John Giorno

An Unemployed Machinist
by John Giorno
An unemployed
machinist
An unemployed machinist
who travelled
here
who travelled here
from Georgia
from Georgia 10 days ago
10 days ago
and could not find
a job
and could not find a job
walked
into a police station
walking into a police station
yesterday and said
yesterday
and said:
“I’m tired
of being scared
I’m tired of being scared.”

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Te Deum by Charles Reznikoff

Happy Thanksgiving. And please take a moment to remember all of our military, especially those deployed and away from their families this holiday.
Te Deum
by Charles Reznikoff
Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.
Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat [...]

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Poetry by Charles Simic: One of the things I’m grateful for

For the mother and father who read to me, for the library card I remember signing the very first time before I could even write my last name, for the people I’ve met who loved books as much I do, for the places I’ve been and continue to go in the pages of a book. [...]

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Sailing through: blessing the boats by Lucille Clifton

blessing the boats
by Lucille Clifton
(at St. Mary’s)
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that

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What Work Is by Phillip Levine

In times of crisis, we learn, and love wins.
What Work Is
by Phillip Levine
We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is–if you’re
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
shifting from one foot [...]

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When Brevity is Brilliance–Ezra Pound

In a Station of the Metro
by Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

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Palin–Fear Grows

IS SARAH PALIN A MAJOR CONCERN FOR ALL POETS AND WRITERS?
Before she was elected governor, she was mayor of a tiny Anchorage suburb, where her greatest accomplishment was raising the sales tax to build a hockey rink. According to Time magazine, she also sought to have books banned from the local library and threatened to [...]

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Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100 By Martin Espada

Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100
by Martín Espada
for the 43 members of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 100, working at the Windows on the World restaurant, who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center
Alabanza. Praise the cook with the shaven head
and a tattoo on his shoulder that said Oye,
a blue-eyed [...]

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Nothing to say except that I’m afraid: Sarah Palin

Who is Sarah Palin? Who is the woman that McCain thinks we should trust to be one heartbeat away from the White House? Here’s some basic background:
She was elected Alaska’s governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no [...]

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Concordance (Working Backward in Sleep) by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge

Concordance (Working Backward in Sleep)
by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
Working backward in sleep, the
last thing you numbed to is what
wakes you.
What if that image were Eros as
words?
What would it be like if you
contemplated my words and I felt
you?
Animals, an owl, frog, open their
eyes, and a mirror forms on the
ground.
When insight comes in a dream,
and events the next day
illuminate [...]

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