Bettie Coffin has a habit of delighting us with delicious little tidbits of poetry (Tears of Joy, Silence, Choices). While this poem is longer than her previous work here, it is no less delightful as we read the story it tells.  Reuniting By Bettie Coffin When we first met your pain was great. I offered a comforting […]

Marya Zilberberg writes in Massachusetts. This is how she describes herself: “By day I am a health services researcher, but by night (OK, sometimes by day too) I dabble in writing.” You can read more of her writing at her blog. Here, Marya builds her poem around the ironic central phrase “killing time.” The language displays […]

Robert CJ Graves is a master of imagery. His poems bathe us in it (Green House, Queen Learjet, The God of Apathy, Look for Jack Buddha, No Swimming). He and his wife Emily will be moving from Kansas to Georgia to take on new jobs as professors at Paine College. Journeys are metaphors in themselves; let’s see what this […]

A’Yara Stein recently gave us her take on Hansel and Gretel (Careful Who You Trust). Now she uses differently familiar characters to suggest a story, metaphoric and fabled, personal and relatable.  Gloved HandsBy A’Yara Stein Ophelia speaks …  My lord, I have remembrances of yours That I have longed to re-deliver … –Hamlet, III, 1 You […]

Bette Hileman has displayed an affinity for different themes in her poetry (Dirty Sally, Awaiting Snow). Today we’re going to read about forgetting him and remembering him. But who are we forgetting and remembering? Father? Husband? Lover? Friend?  Forgetting By Bette Hileman You want to write about him So you will forget about him. You will […]