Poet’s Corner: ‘Spring Tankas’
Spring Tankas
By Ellie Bates
vernal equinox
daffodils forsythia
medicine of hope
sunlight warms our heavy hearts
we deserve this change from fear
gold ranunculus
crowded petals like turbans
sit on green stalks
turn their heads in a warm breeze
bow to us as we...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Greetings from the Vineyard’
Greetings from the Vineyard
By Fran Schumer
I’m on my island,
you’re on yours
on the 31st floor
of building three —
The Coleridge.
Forgive me if I say
you are the albatross
around my neck
as I once was around yours.
You worried about...
Poet’s Corner: ‘The countdown’
The countdown
By Donald Nitchie
These are the days we counted
down to summer, sliding sweat
off upper lips with the
backs of our hands.
The second hand swam
up its side of the clock
but it wasn’t time.
Summer beckoned
from the end...
Poet’s Corner: ‘The fisherman’s daughter’
The fisherman's daughter
By Jonathan Burke
A daughter fishes
with her father
on the waters
of the Lagoon.
She wears
orange bibs
wool sweater
and hat
rubber boots
and gloves
as does he.
They are out
on the pond
in the bare light
of the sky.
The scalloper
is caught
and turned
in the...
Poet’s Corner: Nancy Aronie
By Nancy Aronie
I look at you like
you’re a crossword puzzle
and I can’t get one clue
How did this happen
that two people so different
so wrong for each other
fit as if God herself
used a celestial bandsaw
and made...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Sunrise over Chilmark’
Sunrise over Chilmark
By Valerie Sonnenthal
I rise up from the warmth of flannel
crisp spring morning no frost
light as full as heaven
but when that golden eye
heats the horizon
blinds through branches
cracks across high blades of yellowed grass
touches...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Island Natives’
Island Natives
By Sam Gurney
As the wind comes off the sea
And up the stream-cut hills,
That crisp, salty air
Delivers a thorough chill.
As I rest my fly upon the pool
Beneath the rumbling cascade,
The surface begins to open
And...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Mom, I knew you’d never leave me’
Mom, I knew you’d never leave me
By Nancy Slonim Aronie
Sometimes when I look at my strawberry blonde cat, Bo
I am convinced that she's my mother.
She curls into my body
When I’m on the couch
My hiatal...
Chris Legge’s ‘A Whither in the Twile’
Have you ever wondered if you have been “here” before? Do some things seem so familiar, and others odd and foreign? Have you ever wondered if someone were brave enough to stand outside of...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Coconuts’
Coconuts
By Taz Strom
Waves rise and fall upon
soft shores of broken rock:
coconuts strewn upon a
carpet of stone as if thrown with abandon,
a feeling of unkempt unrest upon our shore
in the ombra of the moon.
A breeze...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Fame’
Fame
By Clark Myers
Because it’s Summer the Polo store
In Freeport is crowded with tourists
sifting through the sale racks and the logo
t-shirts and sweaters, life size cutouts
of Ralph looking on, silver hair and shades.
A busload of...
Poet’s Corner
Sea smiles
By Nicole Jackson
Spring is on the way
I see my boy looking at the bay.
A freezer full of fish
Cooking is his last wish.
Poles cleaned, lures in order
Maybe he has seasonal affective disorder.
His face appears...
Poet’s Corner
Hiding in plain sight
By Lucas Thors
Blue fabric
A missing expression
Breathing stale
Thank circumstance
A safeguard wrapped in cellophane
Easy anonymity
Hard to connect
In a faceless fever dream
Where everyone seems alien
Elastics stretch
Past smiles and scowls
While some hope to hide
Their visage...
Poet’s Corner
Obsession
By Ellen Story
Yes, I worry everyday about the sinkhole
in my yard’s front temporal lobe.
Aside this cavity that borders
a meadow adjusting its own weight
is a wild cherry tree, sentry yet humble.
It's roots bolster a tombstone-like...
Poet’s Corner
GREENLAND
By Georgia Morris
When the tsunami comes
the tall front sunburst windows
will blast through
but all that flying glass
will never have time
to reach the floor
to the rust-colored Persian
glass will flow in the wash
of angry sea gone awry
and...
Poet’s Corner
BEAUTY
By Fan Ogilvie
What do you do?
Spend the day
Looking at it?
Shopping for it
Receiving it
Trying it on—
Hiding it
Not admitting it
Covering it up
Returning it
Paying for it
To go away—
Much time
Wasted
On the very thing
We were taught
Is truth
But is Keats...
Poet’s Corner
Pane
By Lucas Thors
What’s beyond that thin sheet?
What anger can I discover?
What self-delusions can I muster?
Beyond that pane
A window into unreality
A counterfeit realm
What comparisons can I make?
What vicious conclusions can I draw?
What malaise can I...
Points on poetry
Poetry has always stumped me. I adore reading, and am an avid fan of fiction and nonfiction of all sorts. But poetry has remained elusive, despite my parents’ love of the art form. I...
Poet’s Corner
A Few Dreams
By Nancy Slonim Aronie
I dreamt my father didn’t die
He was faking it
Just to see how much i loved him
Once he saw me cry
He said just kidding
(He was always a jokester)
I dreamt my...
Poet’s Corner
Winter Benediction
By Jeffrey Agnoli
Five inches of snow
by daybreak
just enough to
bend low the
brush and pitch pine.
Now
a frozen rain
falls into
the sodden earth
in long needle lines.
Still the day is hardly harsh
nor the season severe
through all climes
a warm...