Sunrise
Each morning begins before night ends.The dog’s nose nudges her insistent hurryhurry! I can not wait! So in the dark, slow
with sleep and still...
Escape Velocity
Whenever clouds enshroudOrion’s hourglass of starsand the moon stays concealed,I feel a sadness, as if left alone.
Yet how many times have I seen,in...
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,...
In this special edition of The Mid-Atlantic Review, we celebrate the publication of Brandon Douglas' new book, Dipped in Cerulean. Brandon is the 2023...
Oldest Living Things
Spring again, dizzy with babies.Grisly groundhogs crawl from the shed.Frenzied Chipmunks traverse the drive.Cardinals dip and swirl over the doehiding in the...
When Langston Hughes Livedat 1749 S Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 1
Living with your motherand younger brother couldn’thave been easy.
In two rooms,with one oil heateryou...
Flirting with February
Heavy beaked birdin the denuded trees.
He flashed his frilly pantaloonsand if this were a barI might have lowered my lids to him,licked...
The Descent of Discourse
Such conspicuous consumers, utilizingcalls and patterns, colors and scents,
faces and stances and gaits, sensitive tothe foggiest gesticulations, the slightest
seismic vibrations, we...
pastry case
the pastry case
is an aquarium of still lifes
where works of pain au chocolat float
alongside those of éclair and chouquette
to begin to make...
Winter Solstice
We drive in the darkpast the open fieldsinto the neighborhood:Millions of lights on the housesin the trees—the world a-twinkle with hopewhile overhead a...
Street Scene
Early evening heat rises frompavements, from cement and asphalt,carrying a scent slightly sour,slightly acrid—oily and tar-like.
Outside the café, beyond its fenced-intables, a large...