Anne, Allen, You, Me
National Poetry Month This Day of April 21, 2022Today’s poem: Anne Waldman, Notes on Sitting Beside a Noble Corpse Where would I be without Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg? In my own Shimmelstoy way, I…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Poems for Tuesday (NPM, 4.19.22)
Dear Lily & Rosemary, Yael was in my SJ class at SLU in 2004Rob in 2006Laura and Katie in 2008Katja in 2009 So many occasions for gratitudeDuring and since all those SLU years!! Poets/2
Brecht 101 (NPM, 4.15.22)
Dear Ruthie, Have you ever read Brecht? He was one of my influences —I stole a couple of lines from “A Worker Reads History” and used them at the end of “A Mindful Rant for…
A Day of Duality in Brooklyn by Alex Gaynor
Waking up to harrowing news of subway shootings and terrorHappening on the most beautiful day of the year thus far An unsettled anxiety pacing the small room of my studio apartment Giving way to sunlit afternoon…
Love Theme (NPM, 4.8.22)
Elizabeth I, When I Was Fair and Young When I was fair and young, then favor graced me. Of many was I sought their mistress for to be. But I did scorn them all and answered them…
Share the Wealth: It’s National Poetry Month
On Sunday 10 April I invite you to share a favorite poem or two with us, whether by a poet you love or one of your own poems. Or you can tell us a story involving poetry, as you…
Szym and Rez (NPM, 4.6.22)
Wislawa SzymborskaABC I’ll never find out nowWhat A. thought of me.If B. ever forgave me in the end.Why C. pretended everything was fine.What part D. played in E.’s silence.What F. had been expecting, if anything.Why…
4.4.22, National Poetry Month
Contemporary war is a bureaucratic and capitalistic enterprise that requires its bored clerks, soulless administrators, ignorant taxpayers, contradictory priests, and encouraging families. If we understood that a war machine is a pervasive system of complicity…
You Can Write Poetry!
Diane di PrimaOLD AGE: The Dilemma most of what I’m writing not that interesting but the act of writing itself more compelling than ever ********* Dear Siobhan Thank you for your snail-mail, but I…