These poems are part of the special section, New Poems of U.S. History, reflecting on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence selected by editors...
Dandelion on the Lawn
little roar against shorn green.
Blemishes—to pry outby their stems, bouquets of bright defiance.
No, my father taught me, you wedgethe trowel down,...
Cloth & Sun
Chaos greets me at the door—
broken things swirl,
dust motes through worn curtains,
a breath before the next bruise.
You coil like an old cobra,
fangs...
Loop
Goddamn those whippoorwills, we wanted
to shoot them, our history teacher said.
-
He’d lived in the woodsiest neck of our district
since childhood. Of course we’d heard them
-
too: In...
Tondo: Closing the CircleAfter Sam Gilliam’s Something is Going On!—2021
In a muddle of abstractiona face emerges—owl, cat, human—no certainty.Should I turn the canvas,straighten its...
