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Hindsight
Poor opossum, mouth shut tight like mimosas at dusk and a pinky-sized switchblade still stuck in…
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Two solitudes
All I wanna write about is you and your intense gaze, dark as a vanilla pod,…
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The World Clown Association apologizes
Vaudeville in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My bell-ringing at last night’s birthday…
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The fae queen of fossil fuels
Some say the world will end in fire, but from this hot pit the fae queen’s…
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Motivations
1. Ahead of schedule To the cokehead pilot flying eastYou must be somewhere between Springfield and…
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The dining hall at Brattleboro Retreat
The psych ward had all-you-can-eat string cheese and boxes of tea leaves in every flavor. A…
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A love poem for nothing in particular
Every day I make a little time to love: the first kiss of the uncarpeted floorboard…
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Three rules for biding your time
1. good kidssit very still in the backseat of the station wagonmusic so loudthey forget they’re…
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Sail out! (Response to a Danish proverb)
“Don’t sail out farther than you can row back.” — Danish ProverbSail out! A life well-lived…
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The secret only runaways know
Every lesson you’ll ever learn is a new definition of home. But there are mountains beyond…
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Dionysus goes to rehab
The first night, he doesn’t sleep, but lies awake tormented by the almost-silence, the dripping pipe…
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A poetry prompt for when all others fail
Ideally, start on Sunday. (All the best poems are written on Sundays). Visit any church except…
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A longing-mark in the shape of unpoisoned rain
What else is there? All the perfect curios of living, loving are preserved in poems like…
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The desert after rain
I don’t smell it so much as feel it in my nose—a sharpness like the early…
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Forever is a short hike
Up the speckled mountain Where Echo pulled her rootsFurther than the MorriganHer strange and sour tuneBeyond…
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Poetry writing prompts: Concepts, activities, starters
Concept prompts Write a poem using every sense except sight. Write a self-portrait in the third…
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The Patron-Saint of Small Bugs
Pupa—in Latin, girl, doll, puppet. Maggots love low and butterflies, high. Students laugh in bathroom stalls,names…
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Lover’s quarrel overheard on a mid-day hike in Santa Fe
Lady don’t convince him Dust refuse to settle Philistine! Provincial! A sickly sentimentalLady don’t convince him…
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Things of no consequence
Sometimes I think so hard about things of no consequence:How your head don’t keep you warmHow…
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Letter from sun to moon
Who are you when you turn away from me? Friend of thieves and hunters, guiding light…
Lizzy Burnam 🐞 