Poetry

Vertigo—Jill Jennings

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Vertigo by Jill Jennings Vertigo Kaleidoscope lodged in my right ear, I move my head ten degrees and feel the rocks slide as if tumbling down a cliff, pebbles skipping across the lake in the center of my skull. I attempt to stand up and learn there is no up, only the rocking, the ellipse, the white noise behind the eye socket. The wave in the stomach entreats me to find my bearings, but there are no portholes, no horizon to serve as a guide, no compass ...

This Is the Floor Where No Babies Are Saved—Jill Sebacher

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 This Is the Floor Where No Babies Are Saved by Jill Sebacher This Is the Floor Where No Babies Are Saved The first time you’re wheeled up to Winnie Palmer’s eighth floor you don’t know— the shock has not worn off. The tile shines hypnotizes hotel-like; then the chair is parked at the nurse’s station, a check-in desk to this resort no one wanted. The first time you swaddle your hope hold it close pray so hard it hurts for the doctors to be ...

Healthcare for a Thousand, Please—AT Hincapie

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Healthcare for a Thousand, Please by AT Hincapie Healthcare for a Thousand, Please “I’m here, Alex. I’m doing. I don’t do, but I’m doing.” —Dec. 2017 challenger in response to Mr. Trebek’s mid-game interview “I’m surprised you remember me,” my wife tells the nurse and, “Thank you,” and, “Thank you,” again, as she’s escorted to the back office. Muted Final Jeopardy above the counter close-captions my unrest, and the contestant in me buries ...

Files Pending—Victoria Crawford

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Files Pending by Victoria Crawford Files Pending “In” and “Out” files crowd my desk, my life, but the one marked “Pending” with abandon grows tall, fat, deep; my energy and worry expending until the warning light abruptly flares bright to halt the ongoing intending of all my busy-ness with immediacy; I sit outside a medical door pretending a bravery that I lack, a smile in need of mending; old man’s problem, yes or no biopsy, unguessed now ...

Petting Mr. Sandberg’s Cat—Gloria Heffernen

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Petting Mr. Sandberg's Cat by Gloria Heffernen Petting Mr. Sandberg's Cat Depression comes on little cat feet It curls its tail around your ankles rips into you with its claws Leaves you in a silent fogGloria Heffernen is the author of the poetry collection What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List (New York Quarterly Books). She has written two chapbooks: Hail to the Symptom (Moonstone Press) and Some of Our Parts ...

Paper Dragons—David Porter

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Paper Dragons by David Porter Paper Dragons It feels foolish to be this old. The world no longer beckons. It’s too late for a hit record, a best-seller, a massif of abdominal muscles buckling beneath the skin, even a semblance of bliss. The world is for the young; it must pass us by. We fall behind it, primping at a shrouded mirror. “Alas,” we say, no longer joking, signifying despair, preface to a eulogy. The tragedies arrive like weather. The losses ...

The Slip—Risa Denenberg

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 The Slip by Risa Denenberg I was reminded sharply of danger, of throbbing, of sudden death. Here, a lavender bruise. Here, a tender egg at my forehead. At sixteen, I ran smack into a concrete wall, chased down the hall by my brother. Just kids then. I have worn the years of depression from that skull dent with bravura. Today, nausea and vertigo. A concussion? Today I have curtly become an old lady. One who ...

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Poetry Letter from the Poetry Editor: Commonality and Difference Petting Mr. Sandberg’s Cat | Gloria Heffernen Radiograph | Mantz Yorke Files Pending | Victoria Crawford Frances is staring at her plate | Maya Wahrman This Is the Floor Where No Babies Are Saved | Jill Sebacher Healthcare for a Thousand, Please | AT Hincapie Paper Dragons | David Porter Vertigo | Jill Jennings The Places Where They Fell | Sue Fagalde Lick Dear Small Bowel ...

Letter from the Poetry Editor

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Letter from the Poetry Editor: Pain, Poetic Gifts, and the Reader’s Role by Steve Granzyk n the autumn of 2007, I was up late reading The Best American Essays 2006. By habit, I had been flipping through the volume’s pages, skimming opening paragraphs and bits of dialogue—you know, looking for something enticing. That’s how I encountered Marjorie Williams’ “A Matter of Life and Death.” After an unsettling ...

Listener—Jo Ann Benda

Poetry Issue #2: Pain September 19th, 2019 September 19th, 2019 Listener by Jo Ann Benda Listener I lean over your belly, Large with pregnancy, Stethoscope to forehead. In this quiet interlude I process what I will say. The silent Doppler would be too Overt and transparent. I see your tears. There is no blame here. I need time, so I listen. Your heart already knows The child who no longer moves Is dead. I require a moment to prepare for When the evidence is undeniable. Jo Ann Benda reads “Listener”: Jo Ann Benda, ...