Elizabeth Acevedo the slight angling up of the foreheadneck extension quick jut of chin meeting the strangers’ eyesa gilded curtsy to the sunfill in another in yourself tithe of respectin an early version the copy editor deleted the word “head” from the titlethe copy editor say sit’s implied the copy editor means wellthe copy editor …
Alison Luterman – Some Girls
Alison Luterman Some girls can’t help it; they are lit sparklers,hot-blooded, half naked in the depths of winter,tagging moving trains with the bright insignia of theirfury.I’ve seen their inked torsos: falcons, swans, meteorshowers.And shadowed their secret rendezvous,walking and flying all night over paths traced like veinsthrough the deep body of the forestwhere they are trying …
Kim Addonizio – Sestina: Writing
Kim Addonizio (July 31, 1954 -) I spent an entire day at my desk writingvapid effluvia like I’m so sick of writingpages of drivel, not feeling like a writerat all even though “A writer writesand doesn’t just talk about writing”was drilled into me by a writing instructor years ago. “Writingbegets writing”was another lesson I learned …
Joyce Sutphen – The Art of Revision
Joyce Sutphen (August 10, 1949 -) In the morning I take outmost of what I put in last night.I cross out everything that seemsexcessive, every frill and fandango,anything fluffy—a word that shouldnever again appear in a poem,along with blossom and awesome.Once I have deleted everythingexcept the title—which now seemsto have been written by a poetwho …
Denise Levertov — The Secret
Priscilla Denise Levertov (October 24, 1923 – December 20, 1997) Two girls discoverthe secret of lifein a sudden line ofpoetry.I who don’t know thesecret wrotethe line. Theytold me(through a third person)they had found itbut not what it wasnot evenwhat line it was. No doubtby now, more than a weeklater, they have forgottenthe secret,the line, the …
Julia de Burgos – Julia de Burgos
Julia de Burgos (February 17, 1914 – July 6, 1953) Already the people murmur that I am your enemybecause they say that in verse I give the world your me. They lie, Julia de Burgos. They lie, Julia de Burgos.Who rises in my verses is not your voice. It is my voicebecause you are the …
Tracy K. Smith – Alternate Take: Levon Helm
Tracy K Smith (April 16, 1972 -) I’ve been beating my head all day long on the same six lines,Snapped off and whittled to nothing like the nub of a pencilChewed up and smoothed over, yellow paint flecking my teeth.And this whole time a hot wind’s been swatting down my door,Spat from his mouth and …
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