– Imbolc 2011, 2:17am MST Old Ethan like a walking stick, daylong shadow: sets him after a halfway pole fifty mile through a dankling woods. October throwed his scarecoat down. November framed those woods a house of smoke. December painted the black days white. Come January, the ringnecks froze in place. Treelocked they’ll sit ’til April flumes their melted songs
Read moreS&R readers have probably noticed that we like poetry around here. Something we have been talking about for quite a while, in fact, is why we didn’t take the next step and become a poetry publisher. Now, after months of planning, we’re doing precisely that. On Monday, we will publish our first poem as a poetry journal. If you’re wondering,
Read moreCrest (New Year’s Day, 2011) – for Ann When time is a wolf, the year a pack of yellow teeth; when one by one we lay us down, or stop to kiss goodbyes when one of us can run no more, then back into the trees;
Read moreIt’s as though Tennyson were writing about the past year, isn’t it? In Memoriam (Ring Out, Wild Bells) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Read moreWhen we invited Denver cartooning legend Kenny Be of Westword to contribute to our Harvey Pekar series, we didn’t really anticipate return coverage in the Mile High City’s long-running alt-weekly. We just wanted to include as many talented people as we could, and Be is as essentially Denver as the Capitol Hill People’s Fair, South Broadway’s antique row, pool upstairs
Read moreFreddie Mercury died 19 years ago today. If you’re a Baby Boomer you probably remember how you felt when John Lennon died. Freddie was my John Lennon. I finally wrote something about his death a few years later. In truth, it’s not a very good poem at all, but I kept it around and treated it with reverence because it
Read moreIf you’ve spent any amount of time walking dogs, you may have noticed that for squirrels, it isn’t enough to be up a tree. They need to be up their tree. And so, this particular squirrel had a problem.
Read moreA bit of Saturday afternoon fun, courtesy of Thomas Stearns Eliot and Wordle.
Read moreOn several occasions we have pointed you toward the Poem for Tuesday feature at The Agonist. That weekly must-read is presented by Bruce Jacobs, who’s a fantastic poet in his own right. He’s our Poet of the Day at the Samuel Smith Poetry community on Facebook, and I thought I’d take a moment to point S&R lit lovers to his
Read moreToday is a day for politics and all that signifies. I suppose, as dark as the times have been of late, we might be forgiven if we approach the polls with a bit of cynicism. Certainly many of our very greatest poets have shared our misgivings over the political forces that shape our lives and dictate our opportunities, including my
Read moreIn honor of the Sabbat, I offer up this fragment from my poem “Eleven Fables.” ______ 9. Dog, Two Roads, Samhain October hardwoods crest the Blue Ridge, red gold orange, the incandescent rumor of All Hallows. Dog, tail flying full mast, sniffs from oak to maple, back again:
Read moreSage I am not my geography, you say, but immure yourself in dead country retching your dreams into an open grave. Stands of aspen overwatch Eagle Nest and Angel Fire. Toward Cimarron yellowjacket light immolates the sky. Listen: there are liturgies of geography where no graves gouge the land.
Read moreThe other night I’m settling back to watch the game and out comes Kelly Rowland to sing the national anthem. And to nobody’s surprise, we’re treated to … the obligatory butchering of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Such is the mode of pop music these days – it isn’t acceptable, where a G appears in the sheet music, to sing a G.
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lullaby pit 