Ode To What We Make
By Kathy EngelPraise the words and what
defies words, the mamas and
fathers, all the beloveds
Calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets.
By Kathy EngelPraise the words and what
defies words, the mamas and
fathers, all the beloveds
By Minal HajratwalaYour rage is pomegranates spilling open on ice, is the flute’s thin silver seam, is a volcano spitting rivulets of fire to wash clean these corrupt lands.
By Samantha ThornhillGive thanks to your mansion
of a mama in that cold square room
the push and pull
of breath that brought
By Reginald Dwayne BettsReginald Dwayne Betts performs the poem "When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving" at the 2016 Split This Rock Poetry Festival.
By Ocean VuongOcean Vuong performs the poem "Ode to Masturbation" at the 2016 Split This Rock Poetry Festival.
By Ross GayRoss Gay performs the poem "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" at the 2016 Split This Rock Poetry Festival.
By Sarah SansoloYou wear the faded muslin—
did it begin yours or mine?
Everything we have is both.
Everything we are is both,
By Jen Hoferwhat dateless body what we exacted or nixed or hexed in the eternal present of not being able to – what not being able to not be considered garbage or trashed by the bag
By Luis Alberto AmbroggioPoetry might never have seen
that categorical word,
but in its charged belligerence
of emotions and in its profound determination,
By Marci Calabretta Cancio-BelloI fell in love with a North Korean
by falling asleep on his shoulder
in a South Korean subway.