Ann Phong : I am Not a Virus In 1975, Congress passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. This program designated four hundred million dollars in funding for the emergency evacuation of over thirty-five thousand South Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees from their home countries to the United States following the fall of Saigon […]
Evening Song By Rachel Windsor Sorrow took your breath like a chill wind. The silence robbed the night, and your last breath Took its place among the elements My voice echos, magnifying your absence. New statue In a drafty museum, your stillness Shadows my terror. I stand shocked angry as fence rows I am no […]
“Maximus, to himself” is one of my favorites of George Olson’s poetry. It displays the freedom in the lack of formalism within the verses iconic to Black Mountain Poetry while conforming to his lofty predetermined ideas on objectivity and projectivism. The poem itself is equal parts devastating and beautiful. The poet admits a nihilistic defeat […]
Dana Gioia, in the chapter entitled “Notes on the New Formalism” found in the text New Expansive Poetry, makes the claim that free verse uses aural techniques similar to the formal poetic usage of meter. He says, “ Poetry demands to be recited, heard, even memorized for its true appreciation (17). Gioia also claims on […]
Brittle Bones By Rachel Windsor Life is short, though I hide this from my consciousness Life is shortening, they’ve shortened mine In a thousand deceitful, horrendous ways, A thousand deceitful, horrendous ways I’ll pretend to not hear. The world is at LEAST Ninety percent terrible, and That’s a conservative Estimate, though I keep this […]
Contemporary Poet Lyn Hejinian engages language as a “language poet” with humor and existential tonality. Her poems embody her experiences and existential observations in a similar way to confessional poetry; however, she acknowledges her own perception as distinct from a reader’s with her satirical play with words and the changing pronouns to encompass herself, the […]
Jayne Cortez’s “There it is” is simply shocking. Starting with the title and repeated phrase, “there it is” is distinctly matter of fact. By titling the poem There it is, she merely and somewhat casually describes the devastating state of our world during the time in which she is writing. She frequently begins her stanzas […]