Poetry

View Out My Window—Catherine Klatzker

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 View Out My Window by Catherine Klatzker View Out My Window The worst thing is she died alone as so many do these days isolated from all who love her. In pandemic, we are globally unprepared for this novel anguish. There is nothing outside in the grey evening, nothing outside my window to distract me from the memories of dying patients, how we used to use our lunch breaks to hold and rock those who had no families, so ...

Tribute to Henrietta Lacks—Jill Jennings

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Tribute to Henrietta Lacks by Jill Jennings Tribute to Henrietta Lacks: The Hero in the Laboratory They even changed your name, first to Helen Lane, then to Helen Larsen, finally to Henrietta Lacks. After they harvested your cells. The strangest form of life a cell could have, that’s what they said. And you said go ahead and use them, “if it’ll help somebody.” Now there’s a vaccine against the HPV-18 that did you in, grown ...

Prayer for a Pandemic—Dina Greenberg

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Prayer for a Pandemic by Dina Greenberg Prayer for a Pandemic Awaken at two a.m. day four of Passover, Easter Sunday enumerate the dead & the afflicted break open your heart again don’t fight the pounding fear growing there, relinquish each footfall, touch silken ash to forehead make the sign of the cross Believe, believe behold the Paschal Lamb behold the promised land face the east rock from heel to toe drop and give me twenty repent, repent kiss the ring click your heels together & ...

Darnella—Michael Giorgio

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Darnella by Michael Giorgio Darnella She is just seventeen afraid for her life as well as for his witness to injustice she is powerless to prevent but brave enough to stay She records what she sees what she should never have had to see a man murdered before her eyes by one who is sworn to protect and serve She is mocked harassed by those who think her wrong for preserving the action rather than act herself against ...

Washing Hands—Pamela Cranston

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Washing Hands with Florence Nightingale by Pamela Cranston Washing Hands with Florence Nightingale No one dreamed she’d come back from retirement, but there she is, in her long black gown, white apron, and small lace cap, pulling up the guards over her straight sleeves, making sure the towels are clean. She is standing by the sink, stern as ever, never giving an excuse nor taking one. I stand by her side, learning to wash my hands like ...

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Poetry Letter from the Poetry Editor: Of Heroes, Poets, & Prophets Prayer for a Pandemic | Dina Greenberg These Hands Must Speak | Rebecca Ramsden Darnella | Michael Giorgio Washing Hands with Florence Nightingale | Pamela Cranston View out My Window | Catherine Klatzker Tribute to Henrietta Lacks | Jill Jennings Patience | Ermelinda Makkimane Get Angel Wing Tattoos Like It’s the Late 1990s | Stephanie Valente

Two Poems—Seth Grindstaff

Poetry Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Two Poems by Seth Grindstaff Bookends My twelve-year-old cousin said Turtle Wax should do the trick when Poppy’s hair began to thin out after chemo, as if sixty-five years of all-natural, jet-black hair were enough. Delicate, it returned for our final visit, as if to offer a comfort that only a child is bold enough to reach for—a patch of lasting faith these hands, now grown, long to feel again. With the final ...

OBSESSIVE / COMPULSIVE—Shay Alexi

Poetry Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 OBSESSIVE / COMPULSIVE by Shay Alexi OBSESSIVE / COMPULSIVE ++++ Shay Alexi reads “OBSESSIVE / COMPULSIVE”: Shay Alexi is a poet and performance artist currently based in Atlanta, GA. Their work has been featured by The Rumpus, APOGEE, and Homology Lit, amongst others. Shay is the author of Diary of a Ghost Girl from Glass Poetry Press. Header image by Marilyn Hallett Granzyk

Saving Sylvia—Laurinda Lind

Poetry Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 Saving Sylvia by Laurinda Lind Saving Sylvia First, assume the au pair there on time. Then, peel back past your problems to their base: naming them enables joy. Next, armed with yourself, stubbornly stay and stay, go incandescent with your staying, don’t be lady anybody. Ladies lay their heads down in ovens. Seize Lazarus out of his biblehole and set him begging bootless with daddy, barefoot in the seasons. Shove the guilty lovers down the stairs. The fiery eye, that’s ...

The Fall—Aubrey Zahn

Poetry Issue #4: Hope March 31st, 2020 March 31st, 2020 The Fall by Aubrey Zahn The Fall Every September, Persephone pretends she won’t go back to Hell, and yet descends from Grace, and graceless rails and digs her nails into the face of Mount Olympus, raw, compelled— and yet aware that as a god herself she’s held to higher standards, she is held above the fire and can never tell a soul except in select soundbites that suggest she’s in control above all else, professional—her role remains that she maintains composure so as ...