Poems
“I read the line over and over / as if I might discern / the little fires set / the flames of an idea licking the page”
“Illumination,” Natasha Trethewey
Two Poems | Poetry
Owning a Hawk Feather is Illegal Crows raise a ruckus on the mountain this morning, their cacophony roused by a red-tailed hawk circling too close to their nests. The crows mob and dive-bomb the raptor until it flees and the racket stops. Later, as I walk down the...
Fruiting Body | Poetry
Fruiting Body Sometimes I imagine my body fodder for damp gardens, sunken in the permanent earth. I am not dead weight for trees. Sometimes a carcass is just a carcass. But the soft underside of every alive thing is an offering. Tender bellies up in surrender, supple...
These Stretchmarks | Poetry
These Stretchmarks These stretchmarks drink a full glass of water before bed, they want to stand up and stand out in the morning, tired of dimming their light to avoid attention. These stretchmarks don’t pretend, they leave red marks when you want to subtract...
If God Permitted Pirates on the Mississippi | Poetry
If God Permitted Pirates on the Mississippi A poah man leans on his plow to rest in the Delta swelter, As his mule lies by the bank, Dipping its head in the muddy sweet. The flood had receded, And what was left for poah whites and poah blacks Was merely lowland labor....
Black: | Poetry
Editor’s note: due to its special line-spacing, this poem has been published as an image. For optimal viewing, we recommend reading on a computer or tablet screen. A graduate of Howard University, Carmin Wong is a Guyanese-born poet, playwright, and scholar of...Follow Us
