Rubber Dollie
By Scott HightowerLike a dancer covered in nothing
but white powder, then sponged
with coarse brown makeup;
Calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets.
By Scott HightowerLike a dancer covered in nothing
but white powder, then sponged
with coarse brown makeup;
By Rashida James-Saadiyawe scatter
dodge words that rip into flesh
hide from clenched fist
By Yvette Neisser MorenoSo this is how they decided to take him—
at the end of his life,
his frame shrunken, his wild rambling days over
By Judith RocheThey are only boys, though murderers and rapists.
Bad skin is an issue. Candy bars a treat.
Some are fathers. Few have fathers.
By Tiffany HigginsI shall build a city upon a hill
and upon a hill and upon a hill and upon a hill
I am a little shepherd piping low
By Mark DotyBetween the bridge and the river
he falls through
a huge portion of night
By Sonja de Vriesa scar starting below his
cheekbone ran down the length
of his face like a road map
By Jeff GundyA good day for late wildflowers--daisies and burrs
leaned out into the path for a better view, brilliant
blue somethings with tiny blooms on tall stalks.
By Alison Roh ParkIf it were not so scarred from your accidental
rages—uptown, upstate—I would have rested
on the cinder block of your chest.
By Lauren K. AlleyneHere is the night snarled with stars, here is the smile
full of teeth. Here is the bloom of desire, its scent swift
entering everything. Here are the arms, the legs, the heady