Poems

Nation Poetry

Currency Communion Currency Communion

  the first time i ever read the word God was on a piece of money We The People every time i dug in my denims i was uprooting evil * i can make any color out of concrete if yo…

May 17, 2022 / Poems / Eduardo “Echo” Martinez

Nation Poetry

I Wake in the Dark I Wake in the Dark

I wake in the dark and reach out to snug you close and your arm comes free. It falls from your body like bread. Like wet rope. And my not yet wakened mind whispers, This is what i…

May 14, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Michael Bazzett

Nation Poetry

To a Friend Returning to Aleppo To a Friend Returning to Aleppo

We opened a bottle of wine, summoned mountains overlooking ancient cities, & cities, those pits of unease, & we left your mother’s illness alone—your mother, who insists yo…

May 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Zeina Hashem Beck

Nation Poetry

Couplets Couplets

I became myself. I became myself. No, I always was myself. There’s no such person as myself. I wouldn’t have to turn my eye inward, I thought, if I could train my eye on him—the on…

Apr 19, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Maggie Millner

Nation Poetry

Home Movie Home Movie

Strewn across the floors their toys and things, a video cassette the dad had written “We used to have more of these” on, the kitchen in a state of high party, boxed cakes half eate…

Apr 5, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jana Prikryl

Nation Poetry

Green Tomatoes in Fire Season Green Tomatoes in Fire Season

There is smoke in the air when I go pick them. I go despite panic, also because inside I’ll make chutney. For an hour or so, I unlatch them. It is late fall. They will not ripen. F…

Apr 5, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Tess Taylor

Nation Poetry

The Falling Man The Falling Man

The story is missing, so I fill it in— it’s what a thinking person does to cope. Without the details, only Death can win. And so, the panic invariably set in, the fires on lower fl…

Mar 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / C. Dale Young

Nation Poetry

What Is to Be Done What Is to Be Done

When asked Why here? Mao said We didn’t pick it Here is a slab of If Here is a set of appropriate roles; armed in cinema Armed against No one was here I see you, us. Someday Our a…

Mar 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Zaina Alsous

Nation Poetry

See the Tail That Wags the Dog See the Tail That Wags the Dog

See the tail that wags the dog. Language is speaking the man. Look, the shovel is making a hole in the grave digger! Brushes paint artists into the walls! The hip is wagging the da…

Feb 22, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ludmila Khersonsky

Nation Poetry

Hannah Is Never Only Hannah Hannah Is Never Only Hannah

Please get that I am the trying breeze going through the really great great great world yes yes. Please get that I am the drowning helpful freedom of the storm yes yes. Please get…

Feb 22, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Hannah Emerson

x