Poet’s corner: Cosmic streams and mountain dreams

THROUGH THE WILDERNESS by Toussaint St. Negritude Through the wilderness of my freedom through territories uncharted for corporate consumption through cogent dreams and cosmic streams I have climbed to find my Star House high amongst the peaks of an ever-emancipating consciousness. Through these constellations strewn within my soul here I have climbed to find my sanctuary housing all the juju this new day can hold. Through days clouded in the valleys of self-deceit through the darkest immobility of shacklin … (read more)

Poetry: Call Richard Webb

Before the wind takes it. Before the voles make a home of it.Or a trunk-borer. Before the orioles weave one nest too many.Or later, in December, the snow weighs heavily for the thundering branchto go under. And looking ahead again to next summer, the tail … (read more)

Poet’s corner: That plaintive call

Late August There is this; the evening falls soonerin late August.In late August there is a chillonce the sun has lowered.The scent of the grasses is burnished,the pleas of the cicadas, plaintive.The cycle, always the cycle;don’t despair, wear what manife … (read more)

Young Writers Project: Esra Anzali & Siena Stanley

Young Writers Project is an independent nonprofit that engages students to write, helps them improve, and connects them with authentic audiences in newspapers, before live audiences, and online. YWP also publishes an annual anthology and The Voice, a digi … (read more)

Clippings: Everyone should read Sufi poetry

Language possesses magic.Right now, much of its power is tuned toward harm. So much of the English language has been curled, hammered and molded around colonialism. Our stories are heavy with capitalist urgency and linear processing, our metaphors are thi … (read more)

Letter to the editor: Reflections on July 4, 2021

About the 4thI take the 5thBecause of the 6th Yet on 2nd thoughtPerhaps I oughtDeclare the blameAnd name the names Who tweeted the tweetsWho took to the streetsRiled. Defiled. Went totally wildWho fueled the schismAs patriotismWho left for CancunWho kept … (read more)

Poet’s corner: Where moonlight finds you

How Difficult is It?   I wouldn’t have guessed you’d love this form. And take it back into a cell’s darkness. Even the super moon can’t reach you. Unless you dream that light is meant for you. I mean   it’s hard for me to think of so many men, green-suite … (read more)

Poetry: Life under a tiny roof, in the rain

The Usefulness of an Umbrella Few care about this ordinariness that spends summer days in the back of closets until a chiller wind whips in squalls and out of nowhere you are on a city street with the only person you can imagine sharing with, an uneven co … (read more)

Poet’s corner: Of love and a house

Rorschach Test Shoulder blades of a house, one left, one right; both browned by afternoon suns. ~ ~ ~ Mouths of two bedroom windows, opened wide. ~ ~ ~ The outline of my grandparents, my grandma smelling like coffee and lavender soap, their shapes still p … (read more)

This month in poetry: Words through the darkness

Excerpted from September 1, 1939         By W.H. Auden All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And the lie of Authority Whose buildings grope the sky: There is no such thing as the State … (read more)

Video: Amanda Gorman reads her inauguration poem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ055ilIiN4 Twenty-two-year-old poet Amanda Gorman read her poem, “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.  

Poetry: Threads of light and silver

Silver Solstice By Cindy Hill   Pale sun slides low across the silver sky and softly spins a thread of silver light to hold the force of day against the night, the all-entombing darkness to defy. Like mycorrhizal filaments through earth or water pulsing u … (read more)

Letter to the editor: Bristol resident waxes poetic about the season

Repeat the Sounding Joy. Repeat the Sounding Joy… I am stopped in my tracks by these timeless lyrics. Hoping they still mean there is something wonderful to repeat In our time, Something sorely needed.   “Repeat the Sounding Joy.” I find that joy doesn’t … (read more)

Jack Mayer wins prize for book of poetry

Living here in Addison County, it’s a fair guess that most of us like nature; many of us might even say we “love it.” Whatever it is, we’re all certainly thankful for it. And during this time of year, it seems fitting to recognize the things we cherish — … (read more)

This month in poetry: A cool autumn falling

Even Now   Even now, the lion sculpture at Frog Hollow,  the one made of so many old metal washers,  shines as best it can in the subdued light.  The water rushing over the falls sounds  its deep chords, playing off the wind  in the maple and linden trees … (read more)

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