Poem of the Day, June 6
Happy Birthday to Nikki Giovanni, born June 7, 1943
Allowables
by Nikki Giovanni
I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn’t
And she scared me
And I smashed her
[...]
Poem of the Day. Allowables by Nikki ...
Poem of the Day, June 6
Happy Birthday to Nikki Giovanni, born June 7, 1943
Allowables
by Nikki Giovanni
I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn’t
And she scared me
And I smashed her
[...]
Poem of the Day. little prayer by Dan...
Poem of the Day, June 5
little prayer
by Danez Smith
let ruin end here
let him find honey
where there was once a slaughter
let him enter the lion’s cage
& find a field of lilacs
let this be the healing
& if not let it be
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Poem of the Day. Coping by Audre Lord...
Poem of the Day, June 4
Coping
by Audre Lorde
It has rained for five days
running
the world is
a round puddle
of sunless water
where small islands
are only beginning
to cope
a young boy
in my garden
is bailing out water
from his flower patch
when I ask him why
he tells me
young seeds that have not seen sun
forget
and drown easily.
&nbs [...]
Poem of the Day. Incendiary Art by Pa...
Poem of the Day, June 3
Incendiary Art
by Patricia Smith
The city’s streets are densely shelved with rows
of salt and packaged hair. Intent on air,
the funk of crave and function comes to blows
with any smell that isn’t oil—the blare
of storefront chicken settles on the skin
and mango spritzing drips from razored hair.
The corner chefs cube p [...]
Poem of the Day. Incendiary Art by Pa...
Poem of the Day, June 3
Incendiary Art
by Patricia Smith
The city’s streets are densely shelved with rows
of salt and packaged hair. Intent on air,
the funk of crave and function comes to blows
with any smell that isn’t oil—the blare
of storefront chicken settles on the skin
and mango spritzing drips from razored hair.
The corner chefs cube p [...]
Poem of the Day. To an Unborn Pauper ...
Poem of the Day, June 2
Happy Birthday to Thomas Hardy, born #OTD in 1840
To an Unborn Pauper Child
by Thomas Hardy
Breathe not, hid Heart: cease silently,
And though thy birth-hour beckons thee,
Sleep the long sleep:
The Doomsters heap
Travails and teens around us here,
And Time-wraiths turn our songsingings to fear.
Hark, how the peoples s [...]
Poem of the Day. The Tradition by Jer...
Poem of the Day, June 1
The Tradition
by Jericho Brown
Aster. Nasturtium. Delphinium. We thought
Fingers in dirt meant it was our dirt, learning
Names in heat, in elements classical
Philosophers said could change us. Star Gazer.
Foxglove. Summer seemed to bloom against the will
Of the sun, which news reports claimed flamed hotter
On this pla [...]
Poem of the Day. Consider the grass g...
Poem of the Day, May 30
Consider the grass growing
by Patrick Kavanagh
Consider the grass growing
As it grew last year and the year before,
Cool about the ankles like summer rivers
When we walked on a May evening through the meadows
To watch the mare that was going to foal.
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Poem of the Day. The World and I by L...
Poem of the Day, May 29
The World and I
by Laura Riding
This is not exactly what I mean
Any more than the sun is the sun.
But how to mean more closely
If the sun shines but approximately?
What a world of awkwardness!
What hostile implements of sense!
Perhaps this is as close a meaning
As perhaps becomes such knowing.
Else I think the world an [...]
Poem of the Day. A Small Needful Fac...
Poem of the Day, May 28
A Small Needful Fact
by Ross Gay
Is that Eric Garner worked
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
Horticultural Department, which means,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
perhaps, in all likelihood,
he put gently into the earth
some plants which, most likely,
some of them, in all likelihood,
continue to grow, con [...]
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