September 13, 2024

Two Poems by Joe Bisicchia

Two Poems by Joe Bisicchia

*Featured Image courtesy of Eric Ward on Unsplash* This week, we have some lovely poems by Joe Bisicchia. They may be short, but they pack an emotional punch. Enjoy! Venus de Milo  Hold me.   Don’t be a stone heart.  Be real.  That simple.   That plain.  Hold me.  Even if just with your eyes. Canvas  My father’s hands were calloused from his plastering tool, his hold on his trowel, his carrying of mortar board before he would be lost in a cloud, lost in a Renoir brush, as weather patterns are wont to do. He always said see art in all the blank space. My father, an immigrant, had labored so many facades, long halls and tall vestibules with plaster of Paris, smoothing over surface of every wall to get me through school. Illiterate, yet, the…

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August 26, 2024

3 Poems by Sarah Daly

3 Poems by Sarah Daly

*Featured image courtesy of Andreas Rasmussen on Unsplash* This week we have some wonderful poems by Sarah Daly. Don’t let their size fool you. They may be short, but these poems are full of emotion. Enjoy! At Day’s End  Leaf after leaf drops   on the autumn path.  They piece a rich quilt  of crimsons and golds and   corals which cover the dirt;  my feet crush them,   obliterate them,  grind them into the soft earth.    But the landscape  does nothing to penetrate   November’s loneliness.    Stars  Incandescent circles  weave through  the night sky,  their shadows  traversing our tangled limbs  and signifying joy, joy,  joy.  In the Now Don’t say it, whatever you think, don’t say the words, we are trapped in this reality TV lifestyle (go along go along) don’t open your mouth, there is no more…

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August 19, 2024

Winner’s Curse: A New Novel by L.A. Starks

Winner’s Curse: A New Novel by L.A. Starks

Editor’s Note: A Weekend Arts article in The New York Times caught my attention with its title, “Blending Poetry, Ritual and Data on Oil Drilling.” It’s about an installation created by Imami Jacqueline Brown she calls “research art” and in which says she wants to “demystify oil and gas production.” It was the last thing I ever thought I’d see pursued in art, but then again reading Winner’s Curse was a revelation of its own: a novel set in that same business, which its practitioners used to refer to in the Texas drawl, as “th’ awl an’ gaas bidness.” The notion of a “winner’s curse” is explained on the first page of L.A. Starks’ engaging new novel, the fourth Lynn Dayton thriller. It stems from the fact that drilling for oil was (and may still…

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August 16, 2024

3 Poems by Josh Young

3 Poems by Josh Young

*Featured image courtesy of Ajeet Mestry on Unsplash* We have an excellent selection of poems for you this week by the poet, Josh Young. He claims to be new to writing, but after reading these poems, he certainly has the makings of a talented writer. Take a look at them below. Violence on TV  Violence is acceptable on TV   Dead bodies mangled by war  Charred corpses of an accident  Bloody remains of a murder  Nudity is not acceptable   Naked bodies are disgusting   According to TV censors   Except on certain channels   Nipples and areolas exposed   Cannot be tolerated   It goes against our morals   Our morals for wholesome TV  Full of violence   Full of blood   Full of gore   But free from nudity   Phone Addiction   the opium high   of the screen’s soft glow  electronic endorphins   are pumped into  …

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August 8, 2024

Poignant Miles of Lakeside Boneyard by PS Conway

Poignant Miles of Lakeside Boneyard by PS Conway

*Featured image courtesy of Pau Sayrol on Unsplash* Here is another beautiful piece brought to us by our Poet in Residence, PS Conway. Take a look! Clouds hang low o’er Doolough Valley wispt and haunted like we ghosts who recall the horrors of hunger recall a child who fed like sheep eating grass beside the Dead felled roadside recall the cold that bites so deep through gossamer skin, nowhere to hide from the damp, from the cries carrion crows pull out the eyes of a frail father whose name remains oh so forgotten oh so long ago but the land ne’er forgets its recollections will ne’er relent nor forgive a foreign aristocrat’s neglect for the blight of poverty’s anguishes the poor, the chosen folk of Jesus Christ no loaves nor fish for you and I…

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