Portside

Patty Dickson Pieczka’s poem “After Lorca” marks the Spanish poet’s murder by Spanish fascists on August 16, 1936.

“I wrote this poem in response to the sense of horror I felt,” says New Orleans poet Skye Jack, “and in memory of my ancestors who would not have been given the privilege to refuse their touch.”

Nothing pushes the panic button faster than the sound of a police siren coming up behind you, as New York-based poet Esther Cohen reports.

The denial of racism in education is hardly new, as poet Peter Neil Carroll presents the story of a Native American reformer.

Billionaire Bezos may be flying into space, but Arizona poet Leah Mueller can’t help but wonder what happens if he never returns. “Would that be a relief? Would anyone really miss him?”

In this ode to the walking wounded, poet Melissa Spohr Weiss reminds us that trauma has consequences, that “trauma births trauma births trauma.”

The Pulitzer-prize winning poet Stephen Dunn died last week on his 82nd birthday. This poem reminds us that if life isn’t fair, there’s still kindness, even love.

“Truth is we know when someone’s lying,” says the poet Hayden Saunier about some press conference. Then what do we do about it?

As the generals imprison over 30 poets, California poet Phyllis Klein attacks the killers of poetry in Myanmar, the futility of trying to erase words with bullets.

“So much of this last year has been about breath and breathing,” writes the poet Kindra McDonald, referring to respirators and the words “I can’t breathe.”