Valence
“no country plants innocence / in its daughters we are fertile / for droughts”
Poetry
We are so grateful to all of our partner-poets for sharing their work with us—please enjoy their beautiful words in our Featured Poetry catalogue.
Blood Diary (Diane): Strawberry Red, Mirror Black & Home
By Rainie Oet
“My hands are open—the worm points straight up, / drops of its blood rising one at a time.”
The Orchard Thieves
By Jai Bashir
“In the rain, we circle around like dogs / who can’t find sleep, we carve the dark // out of plums, purple as an uncurled thumb”
Requiem for an Ocean Burial
“Your life amounted to saving cent / seven as you lost yours. Bare ruined choirs / sing to you now in your blistering senescence.”
Husband is The Loveliest Word
“From your fingers, / the salt was a blessing. I had to take / my shirt off.”
The Bird Born Out of Weather
By Al Maginnes
“And though he knows / five languages and a thousand names for God, he walks // to the edge of the settlement, listening again for the silver bird”
Extinction
“In your arms I open / like a wound, // slacken into / chemical grace.”
A Meaningful Poem
“My partner has left robust exercise / I lend my hand to tend this poem / What makes a poem meaningful”
Mantra to protect all children
“this is a mantra to protect tiny breathing holes / stopped by the spittle and mucus of a kiss, / for birdcage ribs of meerschaum against the press / and squeeze of bones”