A Poem for You: Value City by Idra Novey

2024-10-15T10:11:35-04:00

Value City Idra Novey Under the marked-down dresses, we conjured trips to Oslo. Also to Lima. Mel says the game was my idea, hiding behind hundreds of hems, inventing trips to cities we knew only as pleasing arrangements of letters, places we’d likely never see. Mel says it’s how she remembers me: cross-legged, knotting lengths of licorice, traveling the planet under racks of final sales.   A rhinestone belt fell on my head once, she says, and I kept on talking about Alaska, the claws of King Crabs we’d crack open and taste the arctic, find out what we were missing [...]

A Poem for You: Value City by Idra Novey2024-10-15T10:11:35-04:00

Word of the Week: valetudinarian (văl-ĭ-tōōd-n-ÂR-ē-ən)

2024-10-08T13:27:43-04:00

Word of the Week: valetudinarian (văl-ĭ-tōōd-n-ÂR-ē-ən) Definition (Noun) A person in weak health, especially one who is constantly concerned with his own ailments; an invalid. In Context “The evil of the actual disparity in their ages (and Mr. Woodhouse had not married early) was much increased by his constitution and habits; for having been a valetudinarian all his life, without activity of mind or body, he was a much older man in ways than in years; and though everywhere beloved for the friendliness of his heart and his amiable temper, his talents could not have recommended him at any time.” Jane [...]

Word of the Week: valetudinarian (văl-ĭ-tōōd-n-ÂR-ē-ən)2024-10-08T13:27:43-04:00

Word of the Week: bugbear (BŬG-bâr)

2024-10-08T13:26:19-04:00

Word of the Week: bugbear (BŬG-bâr) Definition (Noun) An object of dread, especially of needless dread; an imaginary terror. In weakened senses: an annoyance, bane, thorn in the flesh. In Context "As for that bugbear of a dissolution of the Union, I say, without fear of contradiction, that no practical man has ever believed in it for a day." Horace Mann, Slavery: Letters and Speeches, 1851.

Word of the Week: bugbear (BŬG-bâr)2024-10-08T13:26:19-04:00

A Poem for You: Dedicated to All Human Beings Who Suffer by Yang Licai

2024-09-30T16:15:36-04:00

Dedicated to All Human Beings Who Suffer Yang Licai translated from the Chinese by Joshua Edwards and Lynn Xu 1. No, Behind the truth are other truths   2. Rain makes a painting on the earth  In the classical manner Meticulously depicting what’s hidden from view: Mountain, forest, valley, gorge Building, vehicle, person  Beasts, cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl Gradually expressing the outline  From invisible to visible  From solid state to a state of change  Is this a form of justice?  Rain, and representations of rain  Shrouds, and the shroud’s ability to obscure and to change  This is like one [...]

A Poem for You: Dedicated to All Human Beings Who Suffer by Yang Licai2024-09-30T16:15:36-04:00

A Poem for You: Fall Song by Joy Harjo

2024-09-25T14:35:49-04:00

Fall Song Joy Harjo It is a dark fall day.The earth is slightly damp with rain.I hear a jay.The cry is blue.

A Poem for You: Fall Song by Joy Harjo2024-09-25T14:35:49-04:00

Word of the Week: shenanigan (shuh-NAN-ih-gun)

2024-09-11T15:13:42-04:00

Word of the Week: shenanigan (shuh-NAN-ih-gun) Definition (Noun) 1 : a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose 2 a : tricky or questionable practices or conduct — usually used in plural b : high-spirited or mischievous activity — usually used in plural In Context "And the protesters outside were just the start of the shenanigans. Inside the building, one person attended the hearing dressed in a Russian troll costume." Kevin Roose, The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2018

Word of the Week: shenanigan (shuh-NAN-ih-gun)2024-09-11T15:13:42-04:00

A Poem for You: From “Spanish Folk Songs” by Salvador De Madariaga

2024-09-11T15:26:00-04:00

From “Spanish Folk Songs” Salvador De Madariaga                   II Of the dust of the earth  Can I make songs. One is scarcely over,  A new one comes. Del polvo de la tierra  Saco yo coplas.  No bien se acaba una  Ya tengo otra.                   LV Like two trees we are By fate separated. The road is between But the boughs are mated. Como dos árboles somos Que la suerte nos separa, Con un camino por medio, Pero se juntan las ramas.                   CII I see myself as a crow.  All are wearing clothes of gladness,  Clothed in black mourning I go. Me comparo con [...]

A Poem for You: From “Spanish Folk Songs” by Salvador De Madariaga2024-09-11T15:26:00-04:00

A Poem for You: Story—Late Summer or Early Fall by Yoo Heekyung 

2024-09-11T15:37:29-04:00

Story—Late Summer or Early Fall Yoo Heekyung  translated from the Korean by Stine An Late summer or early fall—memories are unreliable Father was lying on his side In the swaying spiderweb, no spider could be seen The spider is hiding, why don’t you try touching the spiderweb But I am afraid The sound of wooden floorboards creaking Withering up for decades, Father rolled over to his other side And when he did, his scent, his warmth Just as I hadn’t touched the spiderweb, I didn’t dare touch my father’s back And so, neither the spider nor my father moved Why couldn’t I [...]

A Poem for You: Story—Late Summer or Early Fall by Yoo Heekyung 2024-09-11T15:37:29-04:00

Word of the Week: mantic (MAN-tik)

2024-09-11T14:55:06-04:00

Word of the Week: mantic (MAN-tik) Definition (Adjective) of or relating to the faculty of divination : prophetic In Context "Like everyone else, I was in awe of her mantic abilities, and I think she looked upon my storytelling endeavors with indulgence, having known both my father and my grandfather in their prime." Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, The Storyteller of Marrakesh, 2011

Word of the Week: mantic (MAN-tik)2024-09-11T14:55:06-04:00

A Poem for You: Jersey by JoAnne McFarland

2024-09-05T16:19:12-04:00

Jersey JoAnne McFarland He tells me he’s a parolee looking for a good woman but he’s been bad so bad trapped in a sheet of ice wrapping the meat in paper shudders I shouldn’t be eating red meat with my hypertension and high cholesterol the steaming calf He says he’s been out six months but still it’s hard you know how it is the wrong people their bright ideas attempts to rise his bloody apron a recipe buckles and gives me an extra pound Copyright © 2024 by JoAnne McFarland. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 6, 2024, by the Academy [...]

A Poem for You: Jersey by JoAnne McFarland2024-09-05T16:19:12-04:00

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