other people’s poetry
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‘Molecules’ by Kate Daniels
Whether it’s true or not, that all our molecules replace themselves each seven years, his body seems halfway new again, one year into sobriety. I keep my distance now but recall his painful, ten-pound freight, the torpor of late-term pregnancy. All those final weeks, I rested, famished, calling for food I could spin into blood…
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‘Whoever You Are Holding Me Now In Hand’ by Walt Whitman
Whoever you are holding me now in hand,Without one thing all will be useless,I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,I am not what you supposed, but far different. Who is he that would become my follower?Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections? The way is suspicious, the result uncertain, perhaps…
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‘A Southern Tune’ by Li Yi
Married In Qutang To a trader From day to day In the Qutang Gorge The times of tides Seem easier kept Than the words of men Times I wish I were A boatman’s bride. Source: Wong, May, translator. In the Same Light: 200 Poems for Our Century: From the Migrants & Exiles of the Tang…
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‘Solve’ by Ariana Reines
I loathe youBut I will let you pass Through me. YourStupidity smeared all over me Your hot breath in my earTonight I am the only door Through which you can be madeTo disappear Source: Reines Ariana. Mercury. 1st ed. Fence Books 2011, p. 3.
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‘I Was Afraid of Dying’ by James Wright
Once,I was afraid of dyingIn a field of dry weeds.But now,All day long I have been walking among damp fields,Trying to keep still, listeningTo insects that move patiently.Perhaps they are sampling the fresh dew that gathers slowly In empty snail shellsAnd in the secret shelters of sparrow feathers fallen on the earth. Source: Wright, James.…
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‘When you speak of the Cunt put hair on it! Try to forget everything you learned in college.’
‘Advice to a Young Writer’ by Henry Miller All piffle & twaddle—influence of the Bottom Dog man.For real “decadents” read Huysmans & other French authors.Diarrhea of words—stew of classic allusions.Fuck Artemis et alia!Don’t put intellect in your prick!Write honestly even if poorly.Humor is weak—immature.Try drugs and compare two kinds of writing.Try using only Anglo Saxon…
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The Blue Cherry Blossoms on The Blue Tree
‘Cherry Blossoms at Evening’ by William Carlos Williams In the prebirth of the eveningthe blue cherry blossoms on the blue treefrom this yellow, ended room—press to the windowsinside shall be outthe clustered faces of the flowersstraining to look in Source: Williams, William C. “Cherry Blossoms at Evening.” The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Volume…
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The Lady of the House Puts the Alarm Clock in a Drawer
‘Lightly, Very Lightly’ by Mary Ruefle It was raining. I could hear the raintaking the pins out of her mouth.Soft rain became hard rainso that hard things became soft things.The wet leaves under the trees became heavy as diapers,the book left openon the grasscould finally sink in her bathwithout a word,the way, after a hard…
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Stuck Tight Old Boy Stuck Tight
‘Safety Lock’ by Louis Aragon My wordHand caught in the doorStuck tight old boy stuck tightIn other wordsOrThe password pleaseMany thanksNow I hold the keyThe bolt begins to twist like a tongueTherefore Trans. Michael Benedikt Source: Aragon, Louis. “Safety Lock.” The Poetry of Surrealism, edited by Michael Benedikt. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1974, p. 151.…
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Men in Hats Rise from the Ground
‘Five O’Clock’ by James Schuyler Men disport themselves.They help each other:“Reach in my chest and massage my heart.I am not dead.” If clouds are God’s table linen,what is rain?He gave men towels to dry themselves.He blessed their soap. The city grew like the desert, by erosionMen walk in it.God is not so much dead as…
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