Poetry Quotes Worth Reviving in Conversation

Every so often, some journalist declares that “Literature is dead” in an op-ed. In a rose-colored hindsight, these articles are underlined with a nostalgic yearning for bygone writers, capturing the “ineffable but all-powerful zeitgeist.”

This summer, that man was NYT columnist David Brooks. There are some valid points that Mr. Brooks makes, namely the changing media and publishing landscape, the shortening of attention spans, and a society that rewards conformity. However, I would like to propose a solution: the idiomatization of poetry into the vernacular.

Here are five proposed quotes that are incredibly applicable for our journey:

1. Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may”

Defined as a carpe diem, or “seize the day,” poem, Robert Herrick’s To the Virgins to Make Much of Time captures the spirit of the modern acronym YOLO (You Only Live Once). His original intent may have been to encourage women to enjoy their youth before being confined in marriage, but I find it to be a great all-purpose phrase to encourage haste.

Ex. There are only four weekends left in the summer! Gather ye rose-buds while ye may!

2. William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow, “So much depends on a red wheelbarrow”

William Carlos William’s Imagist poem The Red Wheelbarrow, which describes an agricultural scene – a red wheelbarrow, some rainwater, and white chickens, celebrates the importance of everyday objects and the interconnectedness of the world. By changing the predicate nominative, the opening line is a perfect meditation of gratitude for almost any object.

Ex. Sliced bread is the greatest. So much depends on sliced bread.

3. Dylan Thomas, Do not go gentle into that good night, “Do not go gentle into that good night”

It has been suggested that Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote the villanelle, Do not go gentle into that good night, for his dying father. In a metaphor of life as day and death as night, Thomas calls him to “rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Besides in the rage against death, I find his words make a great vehicle for peer pressure, especially on a night out.  

Ex. I think I’m going to head home. In response: The sun hasn’t even set! Do not go gentle into that good night!

 4. Allen Ginsberg, Howl, “I’m with you in Rockland.”

Described by Allen Ginsberg as “a litany of affirmation of the Lamb in its glory,” the refrain of Howl, “I’m with you in Rockland,” addresses Carl Solomon who Ginsberg encountered during his stay in the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Alas, New York State Psychiatric Institute doesn’t have the same phonaesthetic appeal as Rockland and thus “I’m with you in Rockland” was coined. I like to throw this quote out there to express solidarity in a communal experience of incredulity and, in the Beatnik spirit, a bit of nonconformist resistance. 

Ex. Con Edison has increased the rates for electricity in the middle of a heatwave! In response: I’m with you in Rockland.

5. Rainer Maria Rilke, Dunio Elegies, “Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic orders?”

Lauded as perhaps the most lyrically intense poet of the German language, there is no better person to quote than Ranier Maria Rilke when expressing existential angst. Written over a ten-year period, during which he was conscripted into World War I, Dunio Elegies is an existentialist exploration of humanity and the divine. Rilke begins the first elegy (Stephen Mitchell translation) with a question of philosophical despair, which can be used in response to any minor inconvenience. 

Ex. [Upon discovering that the McDonald’s soft serve machine is out of order] Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic orders?

The gusto and appreciation for life are as present today as they were for Herrick, Williams, and Thomas, just as the feelings of despair and lamentation of Ginsberg and Rilke. Poetry represents the eternal. Thus, it is ever relevant. I believe that we must – to once and for all end the recurring Death of Literature – invoke the words of poets past tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.*

*Quote from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Written by Abby Li

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Abby Li is currently considering Sartre, and is thus too deep into a contemplation of life to have a concrete sense of self for a comprehensive bio. She has previously written for Sartle.

Brambles and Verses: Blackberries in Poetry

As the peak of blackberry season begins to roll away and the time of driving summer fruit in from hundreds of miles away is on the horizon, I reminisce on the warm mornings I spent in my backyard this summer with a bowl of fresh fruit. The most notable (photogenic) of the assortment were the blackberries glistening on the sides of the bowl. But time and time again, I was met with this pattern: sweet, tart, bitter, tart, bitter, sweet, sweet, bitter.

Don’t like blackberries? I feel that way, too. They’re too unpredictable, despite their popularity as a summer berry. Not to mention, their incredibly thorny bushes make it tricky to pick your own berries, where (I find) there is more consistency with taste. It’s a gnarly situation all around. The good news is, there is a solution! If, like me, you’d rather enjoy the concept of a blackberry rather than the physical fruit, here are some poems to get you started.

One of the most famous poems “about” blackberries is “Blackberry Picking” by Seamus Heaney. If you somehow avoided seeing this in high school English, you should definitely read it now. Set in a fleeting week of late August, this poem explores childhood in the blackberry fields. Initially the blackberry is, “just one, a glossy purple clot / Among others, red, green, hard as a knot,” but later “The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.” Quickly, the blackberry becomes a complex image of possibilities–a yummy treat, a cloying memory, rotting childhood optimism. Heaney’s work is a must-read for anyone that has a multifaceted relationship with this fruit.

Even if it’s not one of her most popular works, “Blackberrying” by Sylvia Plath is a well-regarded poem that is worth a read. Though blackberries begin as the center of a wondrous atmosphere, “A blackberry alley,” Plath steers the poem in a melancholic direction. When the blackberries “end” at “the hills’ northern face, and the face is orange rock / That looks out on nothing, nothing but a great space,” the speaker ponders the human experience. Like much of Plath’s work, this poem can be read in so many ways that you will probably be spending more hours with it than you anticipate.

Though this one was new to me, it’s definitely a valuable addition to your reading list. “Blackberries” by Yusef Komunyana delves into a boy’s experience with the fruit. Despite his wanting to enjoy them or get “pulled me into early morning's / Terrestrial sweetness,” Komunyana meticulously reveals the burdens the boy carries. While he “balanced a gleaming can in each hand, / Limboed between worlds,” the boy is reminded of his realities and considers where he fits in. A painful but necessary read, blackberries bear the weight of reality in this poem.

Just like their varied taste experiences, blackberries hold a range of poetic symbolism, too! Whether or not you’re a fan of blackberries, these poems are worth the time (unlike getting pricked by blackberry thorns, per say). Happy reading!

Written by Louisa Varni

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Louisa Varni is a student-athlete at Smith College studying English Literature with a poetry concentration. Louisa enjoys connecting with friends in nature and writing lyric prose on the “mundane” details of daily life.

Poems for July 2025's Trending Searches

July overwhelms me. It’s abundant in every way, overflowing with flowers and sunlight as well as noise, crowds, and humidity. Have you noticed how quiet winter becomes? I long for it. But this is July, and there’s a lot going on. The internet is thrumming with millions of queries as we all find things to wonder about. Here are a few hot topics for July, per Google Trends. 

1. Andrea Gibson

On July 14th, the world lost an amazing soul. Poet Laureate of Colorado, Andrea Gibson was just shy of 50 years old when they left this earthly plane due to ovarian cancer. I’m careful not to say anything about a battle, as the social media post announcing their death begins,  “Andrea didn’t lose a battle with anything.” 

Andrea was renowned and beloved in poetry communities across the U.S., and their death was met with an outpouring of love and support, often in the form of shared poetry. Their poem, “Love Letter from the Afterlife,” feels the most poignant to me at this moment.

2. Coldplay Kiss Cam

Gosh, what a weird scandal. It took over my feed one morning, yet I had no idea what had actually happened. Circulating photos didn’t resonate for me as a person who would never be able to recognize most CEO’s and had never heard of a company called Astronomer before. TL;DR a rich business owner was likely caught in an extramarital affair thanks to the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert. 

You might say it’s a nightmare, but if you really want to read about a nightmare kiss situation, then check out Tony Barnstone’s aptly named “Nightmare Kiss.”

3. Mercury Retrograde

Mercury went retrograde July 18th and folks either felt it, heard about it, or just had a hunch. Either way, the phenomenon showed up in search feeds across the country. 

In looking for poems related to Mercury retrograde, I was delighted to find the phrase in one of my favorites, “Things Haunt” by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza. This one hits hard.

4. Chronic Venous Insufficiency

The pressure was on for Donald Trump to divulge some sort of health update after multiple camera operators zoomed in on a strange patch of skin on his hand, which appeared covered with thick makeup. Shortly thereafter, officials announced a diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency. It was a familiar one for me—my good friend has that.

Getting a chronic condition diagnosed can be tough. Craig Morgan Teicher writes about the particular fear and anticipation of the medical world in “In the Waiting Room.” 

5. Happy Gilmore 2

Happy Gilmore 2 premiered on Netflix July 25th, boosted by a supportive Instagram story from Taylor Swift. Swift’s boyfriend plays a small part in the film, and people love to love their love. 

With the combination of love and happy-ness, how could I not opt to end on this high note? These days, we all need to find moments of joy. Let’s cap off the month with a poem about over-abundant happiness from Naomi Shihab Nye.

And so July, in all its abundance, draws to a close. It has reminded me that seasons change, all things begin and end, and we can always find one or two small things to smile about. 

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Written by Allisonn Church

Allisonn Church was born in a small rural community to a mother who pinned butterflies in glass cases and hid scarab beetles in her jewelry box. Her first favorite poem was “The Willow Fairy”’ by Cicely Mary Barker. Find a list of Allisonn's published work at churchpoems.wordpress.com.

Take a Walk with Me: Writing Poems Rooted in Mindfulness and Nature

I define a walk as moving at an even pace without having both feet off the ground at the same time. Merriam-Webster classifies a walk as “to move along on foot : advance by steps.” The Cambridge Dictionary suggests a walk is “to move along by putting one foot in front of the other, allowing each foot to touch the ground before lifting the next.” People go on walks for all kinds of reasons: curiosity, pleasure, exercise, even religious pilgrimage. Walking is a relationship unique to the individual. Every walk is different, even if the path or routine is the same. It is a process that, whether we are conscious of it or not, involves the whole self: the mental, the emotional, and the physical.

As a poet, my writing is informed by nature, which means I often go on walks to gather my thoughts or find inspiration. During that time I meditate to enter the headspace of walking in nature and to be present within it. My favorite mediation comes from Thich Nhat Hanh’s How To Walk: “With each step. I come home to the Earth. With each step, return to my source. With each step, I take refuge in Mother Earth. I love the Earth. I am in love with the Earth” (114). I find myself more in tune with my senses, developing my own personal relationship with walking and nature. When I walk, I take deep breaths, making note of each smell on the inhale. The point of my walks aren’t the destination, but rather to explore and notice the small things: the squirrel trying to cross the street, the grackles and goslings wading in the stream, and worms on the sidewalk. 

A poem I often go back to is Mary Oliver’s “How I Go Into the Woods,” which illustrates her own relationship with walking and nature. She opens by stating that she prefers going to “the woods alone / with not a single friend,” her reason being that she doesn’t “really want to be witnessed / talking to the catbirds / or hugging the old black oak tree.” Oliver’s experience with nature is intimate, one that is religious-like and full of praise. This is her way of “praying,” acknowledging that her experience is significant to her even if it might not be for others. Oliver can sense the stillness of the Earth. She “can sit on the top of a dune / as motionless as an uprise of weeds until the foxes run by unconcerned,” and feel the “almost unhearable sound of the roses singing.” 

Oliver’s poem is reminiscent of the way Hanh’s mantra encourages one to cherish the Earth with every step. Her poem seems to show a routine with her interactions among the trees– a familiarity. The walk she takes means something to her because she gives it meaning, different from others who might take that route. For her, those woods are incredibly precious. To others, a walk through them is meaningless. Her poem is a way to translate the significance of the walk; the two together are a reflection of her values and characteristics.

Walking, meditation, and poetry interact in a way that is highly individual. For me, the three have a dialogue which allows me to create meaningful work. Poems like this:

Standing with Natalia

Above me, the fruit from an osage orange tree, 

(that isn’t orange at all)

weighs down the branches in bundles.

It’s skin rough and thick with deep creases

like the way our grandmother’s skin wrinkled 

with deep valleys when she smiled.

A nearby tree is bare and brittle with divots, 

hollow cavities, and two vines that coil around its trunk.

I don’t think it will make it to spring.

Further down the road,

from a stump, there are flowers growing.

That spring we planted a tree in our grandmother’s name. 

It was, oddly, my birthday gift from our parents that year.

For many, poetry is a cathartic expression. Meditation offers the same relief and walking can interweave both practices. Each one can exist without the other, but when together, they build off one another to create beautiful art. I can only encourage you to notice more with your senses, feel deeply, and give meaning to your walks. 

Written by Ari Acevedo

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Ari Acevedo is a queer latine writer studying poetry at Loyola University Maryland. Currently, they have had their poems: "Above and Below," "The Mantis," and "Down the Rabbit Hole" published in the literary magazine Corridors. They also write for Girls' Life Magazine about Style, Life, and Beauty as an intern.

5 Bite-Sized Ways to Experience Poetry Daily

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably (at least a little bit) interested in reading poetry. You might want to spend an hour going to a reading or sitting down with a new collection, but it’s not always possible to fit it into your busy schedule. As an alternative, here are some bite-size ways to fit poetry into your daily life. 

1. Poetry as Decoration 

One of the best ways to surround yourself with poetry is to literally surround yourself with poetry. Print out a few (or more than a few) of your favorite poems, and put them up on your wall to keep you company! My eyes skim over the poems on my dorm room wall by the dresser while I’m getting ready in the morning, and their lines swim through my head all day.

2. Poem of the Day 

Okay, this definitely isn’t an original idea—there are a plethora of websites, like the Poetry Foundation or Poets.org, that will send a poem to your email inbox every day. But here, I want to suggest something a bit different. I have an iMessage group chat of twelve friends to which I send a poem that I’ve come across and enjoyed (almost) every day. This, I feel, is a more personal form of daily poetry, where the participants can react to poems and we can converse about them. Try starting your own—you’ll be surprised how many people are interested in joining! 

3. Start a Poetry Collection 

But how, you ask, do I find all of these poems to send to the group chat? Every time I come across a poem I like on social media or while reading, I screenshot it and add it to a photo album on my phone. I browse through them at random times, like while standing in the bathroom as my other hand brushes my teeth or sitting on the bench waiting for the bus. Poetry doesn’t always need to be on paper! 

4. Read Literary Magazines 

If reading an entire book of only poems is intimidating, try investing in a subscription to a literary magazine—they typically publish poems, short stories, essays, and sometimes interviews. My personal favorites are The Paris Review and Ploughshares! I always feel enriched in a literary atmosphere after reading the former, and the latter has allowed me to discover some of my favorite poets.

5. Read a Short Poem

While book-length poems like The Odyssey and Citizen: An American Lyric hold a special place in my heart, it’s sometimes nice to read a poem that is both powerful and brief. Some of my favorites are “Matinee” by Andrea Cohen and “Salvage” by Hedgie Choi.

When I first started reading poetry, I was intimidated by the sheer number of poems out there and the time it would take to read them, let alone re-read all of the poems I wanted to come back to. But with these strategies, I’ve built a solid collection that I look at regularly, connected with so many people about poetry, and made poetry into a seamless part of my everyday routine. I hope that, with practice, you can do the same!

Written by Talia Beckhardt

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Talia Beckhardt (she/her) is an undergraduate student of English Language & Literature at Smith College originally from Boston, Massachusetts. She is currently an intern at Pangyrus Literary Magazine and Porter Square Books. Her work has been published in Trace Fossils Review and Emulate Magazine.

Poetic Mindfulness: Real People in Real Time

“Find the edges of your body.”

K. Iver’s instruction sounded simple. I thought about the faded, spice-red, velvet-like seat underneath me, my back leaning against its smooth, unforgiving wood backrest. The sensation of cool sweatpants falling over my knees and the warm plate of to-go dinner sitting on my lap became increasingly apparent. I stared at K with great intent and curiosity, waiting for their next words.

“Think about what’s in there.”

Less simple, but I tried and found the rest of the world was gone. I was irrevocably there, in that auditorium, with K. Iver and my peers and the dim lighting. I felt empty, in a way. Not in a “lack of” way but in a “I have space inside me” way. K’s reading went on to explore grief and identity, each word rolling into and around my psyche. As I walked out, I had a heightened awareness of where my body was in space, and I realized that K offered a unique invitation: a mindfulness exercise that gave me ownership of my physical self.

Mindfulness can be used in a variety of ways: managing mental health, practicing gratitude, being present, self-compassion. In all those iterations, it seems to be  acknowledging what already exists, but what if we used mindfulness as a way to create something new?

Although mindfulness is not the purpose of K’s collection “A Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco,” their writing meticulously observes the presence of bodies: where they sit, what they are doing, how they move. With this, I suggest a poetic mindfulness exercise that might inspire you the way K inspired me.

Step 1: Find a place to write.

It can be anywhere. You don’t even have to move from where you’re sitting right now. Writing a good poem doesn’t require a “poetic” environment, just careful observation.

Step 2: Think about what you are doing.

Seriously, what are you doing right now (besides writing a poem)? Are you people-watching on a bench in the park? Dangling your feet off the dock at the lake? Sinking into the corners of your sofa? What are your atoms doing? Where is your “somewhere”? Iver exemplifies this concept beautifully in “For Missy Who Never Got His New Name.”

Even more for the mole ending the day’s

burrow in your skull. I’m told your atoms

are still atoms. Somewhere you’re sitting

by a pool picking apart the physics

of swimming.

Step 3: Get more specific. Think deeper.

Take a look at “Short Film Starting My Beloved’s Living Body,” where atoms take a meticulous role in an image of the beloved’s body. Great poems don’t walk the outlines of imagery, they run face first into it.

...Look how awake you are. How the 

facial bones move with perfect alignment under 

the dermis.

Step 4. What does it sound like around you? Are you making sound?

The physical space your body occupies is in direct conversation with the physical presence of other entities, like soundwaves. Look at Iver’s “Boombox Ode: Enjoy the Silence.”

A landline lets me dance with you.

             My one-deck and your two-deck

are dialed to 98.5 FM without

             an echo. If we speak aloud

this miracle of fiber wire

             and radio wave, harmony

could split. From our speakers:

             soft synth, a baseline, a choir

reverbing, a guitar riff that rises

             and falls, asks and answers. I can’t

see your movement, the bedroom

             you’re quiet in.

Step 5. Think about taking inventory of what’s inside you, literally or emotionally. Even better,  both.

No example here, it’s your truth to decide.

So, next time you want to write and don’t know where to start, think about your physical bounds. With practice it becomes easier to observe where you are and these noticings–even if they still express themselves in the same words–become richer each time. Suddenly, “almost-warm” air becomes the presence of each molecule embracing the surface of your cold skin. You will feel the weight of your pen in your fingertips and the sensation of its ballpoint against paper. I urge you, in K. Iver’s words, to “find the edges of your body. Think about what’s in there.” It opens a new world.

Written by Louisa Varni

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Louisa Varni is a student-athlete at Smith College studying English Literature with a poetry concentration. Louisa enjoys connecting with friends in nature and writing lyrical prose on the “mundane” details of daily life.

Poems for June 2025's Trending Searches

Welcome, summer! Sunny days, beach reads, late nights, flourishing gardens, walks in the park, and many wonderful occasions to read poetry. 

Though we hope our summer days aren’t cloudy, we’re still spending plenty of time in the digital cloud. In an age of widespread anxiety and unrest, there’s more on our minds than vacation and BBQs and we’re looking to the web for guidance. Here’s a review of June’s trending searches, paired with relevant poems to help us reflect, relax, and think more deeply about this curious life. 

1. Iran

June saw escalating military action between Israel and Iran, with president Donald Trump bringing the U.S. into the mix. The news caused web surfers around the country to google Iran, possibly wondering about the nation’s nuclear capabilities, the conflict’s root cause, or maybe just any updates.

Iran is home to a handful of extremely well-known poets, like Hafez and Rumi. My bookshelf boasts a beautiful, red leatherbound copy of Omar Khayyam’s “The Rubaiyat,” which my father snagged from a local antique bookshop. 

Among those killed in recent airstrikes was a young Iranian poet named Parnia Abbasi (2002-2025). I invite you to read Parnia’s poem, “The Extinguished Star.”

2. World War 3

Welp, y’all have been googling World War 3 a lot, so thanks for freaking me out. This reminds me of when Trump was elected the first time in 2016 and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock forward. Here we are again.

There’s no shortage of war poetry to pair with this topic, though I struggled to find any that mentions WW3 specifically. Instead, I thought I’d share “The War in Colors” by Dunya Mikhail. This poem is short but highly effective—an easy read that makes an impact.

3. No Kings Protest

Multiple sources are now reporting that June 14th’s No Kings protest was the largest in U.S. history. Did you attend? I love seeing pictures of creative protest signs after the fact. 

Really, nobody could express the sentiment of this moment better than Aileen Cassinetto in her poem, “There are no kings in America.” Hopefully some folks had a chance to read this ahead of the protests, for inspiration. Either way, it’s worth a look now.

4. Spaceballs 2

I was born in 1985, just a touch too young to think Spaceballs was all-the-way-funny when it came out. Bits and pieces worked for me. Still, I knew it was a cult classic and most of my family loved it, so I’m not surprised to learn there’s a reboot in the works. We all need a bit of levity.

I shared space themed poems in a previous round-up, but there are always more: The stars are poetic. My chosen poem for Spaceballs 2 conveys a contrastingly heavy theme (racism), but also includes the phrase, “giggling at me like a laugh track.” 

5. Guam

Google was abuzz with news that a fleet of U.S. B-2 stealth bombers were deployed to Guam on June 21st. On June 22nd, I woke up to the news that we’d bombed three Iranian nuclear sites. 

A friend of mine uses Guam as a stand-in for “someplace-far-away-from-here.” I don’t know much else about it. When I read “SPAM's carbon footprint” by Craig Santos Perez, I learned that people in Guam consume more SPAM per capita than anywhere else in the world. If you thought you’d never read a hard-hitting poem about SPAM, here’s your reminder to expect the unexpected.

Searching the web keeps us informed, but also on edge. Throughout these long summer days, let’s also remember to search for the sun’s warmth, green leaves, cozy park benches, and cool spots in the shade when we need them. 

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Written by Allisonn Church

Allisonn Church was born in a small rural community to a mother who pinned butterflies in glass cases and hid scarab beetles in her jewelry box. Her first favorite poem was “The Willow Fairy”’ by Cicely Mary Barker. Find a list of Allisonn's published work at churchpoems.wordpress.com.

Staying Tender in Turbulent Times

As Poetry Society of NY’s 2025 spring gala honoree, Haleh Liza Gafori was gifted a crystal ball. Holding it up, she began her speech addressed to a room full of poets.

Thank you, Poetry Society of NY. I love this crystal ball! What shall we do with it? Let’s envision another world with this crystal ball—one based not on domination and subordination but on collaboration and partnership, compassion and empathy, empathy, empathy.

Thank you all for being here. We are living in times that are in some ways deeply concerning and terrifying, and in others, extraordinary and beautiful. Every day we are shocked by the outrageous blunders, trespasses, and cruelties of an increasingly authoritarian regime. Every day new lies are presented as truth. Every day we watch the continued atrocities in Palestine, in the Congo, in Ukraine.

One thing I ask of all of us: don’t turn a blind eye, don’t go numb. Stay tender. Don’t harden, don’t petrify to stone. I love this quote by Tennessee Williams. He says, “Survive without the calcification of the tender membranes. Be a poet. Be alive.”

So let us survive these times without hardening, without the “calcification of the tender membrane” and with a strong backbone. We need both, and it’s in community where we cultivate these. Tenderness is a kind of vulnerability, it’s about seeing reality and remaining empathic, permeable, translucent, and caring. Poet Robert Duncan said, “Respond. Respond. Respond. Preserve your ability to respond.” And how do you preserve your ability to respond? You stay tender and keep a strong backbone.

Let us respond—and let us remember too what we are doing here. Places like this, communities like the Poetry Society of New York, are laying the groundwork not just for poems to bloom and books to bloom but for friendships and community to bloom. And it is in community, in friendship that we can lean on each other, stay tender and remind each other to stay strong.

I want to say to you poets, you might be the antenna of our times. You might be the tongue, the heart, the soul of our times, the balm, the bridge, the gardener, jester, revolutionary, siren, shaman, un-tier of tied knots in the human psyche, the breaker of mind-forged manacles in the human psyche. You might be the key that unlocks prison doors. You might be the miner of invisible gems—the invisible gems of heart-infused consciousness. You might be the miner of those gems. You might be the sower of those seeds. If we have dog whisperers, poets are humankind whisperers. You might be a bullhorn on the mount. So be it. Be the truth-teller, be the oracle, be the moonlit river running through the body of the listener.

Clear us with your waters of clarity, sweeten us with your honey, nourish us with your milk, intoxicate us with your wine, Poet—archivist and futurist, microscope, telescope, and periscope. You know what a periscope is? You know what a periscope does?

There might be an obstacle, there might be obfuscation because the authoritarian regime loves to keep things unseeable. So you are the periscope that says, nah, I see beyond that, and I’m gonna show you what I see. Show us the details through the microscope and show us the big picture through the telescope. And I ask you, as my great ancestor Molana al Jalludin Muhannam ibn Hussain Balkhi aka Rumi said, “Lift the veil from your face, speak out loud!”

Galvanize us, poets. Galvanize us into action with your outrage. Tenderize with your grief. Delight us with your praise. With your eyes of praise and wonder, help us to protect this beautiful earth. You know they say, “It takes a village to raise a child”? Well, it takes an interconnected, international mass of human beings to raise this earth to a more heavenly iteration.

Let us stop normalizing war and normalizing the paradigm of domination and subordination. We have imaginations. We can imagine other possibilities, other ways of being. Some say “it’s always been this way and it’ll always be this way,” but that’s a cop-out and a false statement.

The poet Robert Bly was considered the leader of the men’s movement back in the 80’s and 90’s. He took men out to the forest. He took Vietnam vets out to the forest and he said, “Men, you need to weep. Go ahead and weep. Weep,” he said, “and if you don’t weep, nothing’s ever going to change.” He was encouraging them to feel, to keep their membranes tender, as Tennessee Williams urged us to do. The writer bell hooks said, the very first thing patriarchy asks men to do is actually not to oppress women, but to commit violence against them themselves by cutting themselves off from feeling. I ask you not to do that. Don’t cut yourself off from feeling. Feel, feel, feel. Feel it all. Keep your membranes tender.

And feel the beauty of this earth. This earth gives us carrots. This earth gives us peaches and spinach and kale and lemons. This earth gives us beautiful orchids that are hot as fuck. It’s a sensual and beautiful earth. Feel the orgasmic, sensual, sexual pleasure by noticing all of this.

Love is not only eros, not only romantic love between two people. Fall in love with the world. Fall in love with the earth. Women, non-binary, men, all of us! Fall in love with this great chance we have to exist, to live, to walk this magical earth. And as you celebrate, weep the terrible things that humans do. Weep about it and we will start to change. We will. The evolution of consciousness, the deepening of compassion is the way, crucial to our survival as a species. And we do go two steps forward and one step back, two steps forward and one step back, but we’re still going forward and we will continue.

As some of you know, I’ve been translating the 13th century sage, Molana al Jalaludin Muhammad ibn Hussain Balkhi aka Rumi since 2016. He asks,

If you plunge in Love’s ocean,

if you swim like a fish in Love’s ocean

what will happen?

Here are some excerpts from one of Rumi’s ghazals, number 2144. It is a poem that is speaking directly to us in these times. In the poem, he presents a series of apocalyptic visions and asks us, who are we going to be in the face of them?

Whatever the ways of the world,

what fruits do you bring?

Say famine strikes,

no bread or bowl of rice in the land,

royal in rank, royal heart, where is your hand?

Where is your measuring cup and storehouse of grain?

Say earth and sky fall to idolatry,

all of us on our knees worshipping figurines,

where is the idol noble enough to break that spell?

Say scorpions, thorns, and snakes overrun the world,

even so, you are brimming with joy.

Where is your garden? Take us to the flowers.

Say misers rule. Generosity fades from memory.

Still, your eyes see, your heart is full.

What wage will you pay?

What clothes will you offer the stripped and bare?

Say sun and moon go down in hell’s flames,

what light will you shine?

what fire will you light before we can’t see,

before we can’t hear?

Then he goes on,

Come, let’s put this aside,

We’re drunk on a lofty ale and it’s getting late.

Where, my friend, is your tavern?

Take us there.

And that tavern? That’s where meaning is on tap. That’s where Love is on tap. That’s where oneness is on tap. The armor thins. The walls between us come down.

It’s getting late. Come, my friend.

Where is your tavern? Take us there.

Written by Haleh Liza Gafori

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Haleh Liza Gafori is a NYC-born translator, performance artist, writer, musician, and educator of Iranian descent. Her most recent book of Rumi translations Water was released in April 2025, a follow-up to her acclaimed first volume, Gold, released in 2022, both published by NYRB Classics. A 2024 MacDowell fellow and a recipient of a grant from NYSCA, Gafori has created a cross-media musical performance based on her Rumi translations. Gafori's writings have been published by Columbia University Press, Harvard Review, Paris Review, and others. Gafori is also a seasoned musician who cherishes her time around fires and beside rivers, in jungles and cities, listening and learning songs and chants in animist and mystical traditions. These experiences inform her vision of a more heart-centered, tender world.

"I Remember Saying Thank You" - Poems for Dad

If, like me, your last attempt to answer your dad’s question, “What’s so great about poetry anyway?” ended in monosyllables and nondescript grunts, maybe it’s time to show rather than tell. Here are five different poems for five different types of dads for those dedicated Father’s Day gift-givers that might shed some light onto what exactly is so great about poetry, while showing him some timely appreciation along the way. 

A poem for dads everywhere: 

If your dad feels discouraged from connecting with poetry, a poem that reflects on fatherhood from the perspective of his child can at least be considered timely. Or, maybe he’ll relate to it and find that exciting. Either way, this poem is a solid start into poetry for any father. For those who believe in fate or just serendipity, Sunday seems to be a great day to celebrate dad no matter the season.

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden 

Sundays too my father got up early 

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, 

then with cracked hands that ached 

from labor in the weekday weather made 

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. 

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. 

When the rooms were warm, he’d call, 

and slowly I would rise and dress, 

fearing the chronic angers of that house, 

Speaking indifferently to him, 

who had driven out the cold 

and polished my good shoes as well. 

What did I know, what did I know 

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

A poem for dads whose kids went to liberal arts colleges: 

If your dad sent his kids off to school only for them to come back preaching about why the communist model is ideal yet unattainable, this poem is certainly one that can shed some light on the experience his kid was having in their first semester. 

An excerpt from “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath 

If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two—— 

The vampire who said he was you  

And drank my blood for a year, 

Seven years, if you want to know. 

Daddy, you can lie back now. 

There’s a stake in your fat black heart  

And the villagers never liked you. 

They are dancing and stamping on you. 

They always knew it was you. 

Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.

A poem for dads who listened to the Ben Folds Live album every time they picked up their kids from school: 

If your dad enjoys routine but appreciates life’s little complexities, Joe Brainard’s genre-bending, repetitive and digestible lines of insight into politics, society, and personal identity will be profound but accessible. Brainard’s discussion of these topics is characterized by their simultaneously hilarious and acute observations, reminiscent of Folds’ music. 

An excerpt from “I Remember” by Joe Brainard 

I remember finding myself in situations I all of a sudden feel (remember) I've been in before: a "repeat" life flash. 

I remember those times of not knowing if you feel really happy or really sad. (Wet eyes and a high heart.) 

I remember, in crowds--total isolation! 

I remember, at parties--naked! 

I remember body realizations about how fragile we (life) really are (is). 

I remember trying to figure things out--(life)--trying to get it all down to something basic--and ending up with nothing. Except a dizzy head. 

I remember how much rock and roll music can hurt. It can be so free and sexy when you are not.

A poem for dads who like to bring the family on early morning hikes during vacation: 

If your dad appreciates the great outdoors and making the most of free time, Walt Whitman’s crooning about the ocean symbolizing the passage of time is something he can identify with and will leave him placing an Amazon order for Whitman’s collection, “Leaves of Grass.”

An excerpt from “As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life” by Walt Whitman 

As I ebb’d with the ocean of life, 

As I wended the shores I know, 

As I walk’d where the ripples continually wash you Paumanok, 

Where they rustle up hoarse and sibilant, 

Where the fierce old mother endlessly cries for her castaways, 

I musing late in the autumn day, gazing off southward, 

Held by this electric self out of the pride of which I utter poems, 

Was seiz’d by the spirit that trails in the lines underfoot, 

The rim, the sediment that stands for all the water and all the land of the globe. 

Fascinated, my eyes reverting from the south, dropt, to follow those slender windrows, Chaff, straw, splinters of wood, weeds, and the sea-gluten,  

Scum, scales from shining rocks, leaves of salt-lettuce, left by the tide, 

Miles walking, the sound of breaking waves the other side of me, 

Paumanok there and then as I thought the old thought of likenesses,

These you presented to me you fish-shaped island, 

As I wended the shores I know, 

As I walk’d with that electric self seeking types. 

A poem for dads who likes to tell stories that start with, “Well, when I was your age…”: 

If your dad takes significant pride in a childhood marked by days spent running free, this poem will bring a jovial sense of nostalgia. Warning: it might result in a year of him saying, “You know what I’d love for Father’s Day next year? A boat.”

An excerpt from “Child On The Marsh” by Andrew Hudgins 

I worked the river’s slick banks, grabbling  

in mud holes underneath tree roots.  

You’d think it would be dangerous,  

but I never came up with a cooter  

or cottonmouth hung on my fingertips.  

Occasionally, though, I leapt upright,  

my fingers hooked through the red gills  

of a mudcat. And then I thrilled 

the thrill my father felt when he 

burst home from fishing, drunk, and yelled,  

well before dawn, “Wake up! Come here!” 

He tossed some fatwood on the fire 

and flames raged, spat, and flickered. He held  

a four-foot mudcat. “I caught it!” 

he yelled. “I caught this monster!” At first,  

dream-dazed, I thought it was something  

he’d saved us from. By firelight, the fish  

gleamed wickedly. But Father laughed  

and hugged me hard, pressing my head  

against his coat, which stank, and glittered 

where dried scales caught the light.

Now, these recommendations are not meant to force what isn’t meant to be; sometimes, dads and poetry just don’t mix. But there’s little else that says “I love you, Dad” like letting him know that you’re reminded of him when you’re reading. Love is just marrying together all those things which you hold dear, and any father can appreciate being thought of, even if they’d rather have a boat to show for it.

Written by Apple Gilmore

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Apple Gilmore is a student at Smith College studying literature and the environment. Her work has been featured in Emulate Magazine, The Acanthus, Riot, and more. She is on the editorial board of Emulate Magazine and interns with Bull City Press. Aside from poetry, her favorite things to write are heavily decorated letters to her pen pals.

The Impact of the Deaf Community on Poetry

As people, we have an instinct to sort ourselves into groups. From politics to religion to hobbies, we constantly seek out ways to fit into larger communities. Groups remove social ambiguity and allow us to feel secure. But poetry disrupts some of this security and puts us back into a gray area. Its possibilities offer versatility: every line in a poem can be meticulously interpreted and re-interpreted, each time teaching us a new lesson. Poems can be crafted, extended or shortened to form a shape. They can be read aloud, or they can be thought over in our racing minds.

This versatility becomes even more profound when we consider poetry’s relationship with the Deaf community. While hearing audiences might experience poetry through sound and rhythm, Deaf poets have revolutionized the art form by embracing its visual-kinetic potential. American Sign Language poetry transforms the space around a poet’s body into a living canvas, where handshapes, movement patterns, and facial expressions create meaning with striking intensity.

Since the 1970s, pioneering Deaf poets like Clayton Valli have demonstrated how poetry transcends auditory boundaries. In his ASL poem, “Dandelion,” Valli uses the natural image of a weed—often overlooked or discarded—to symbolize Deaf resilience. The poem’s visual beauty emerges through hand movements that mimic the dandelion’s growth and eventual dispersal, all without a single spoken word. These artists don’t simply translate spoken verses—they create entirely original works that capitalize on ASL’s unique capabilities, challenging our fundamental understanding of what poetry can be.

For the Deaf community, poetry offers more than artistic expression; it becomes a powerful assertion of cultural identity and linguistic pride. I remember watching a classmate perform a signed poem about silence—not the absence of sound, but the presence of space. As a hearing viewer, I could feel the weight of each pause, each one a vessel of possibility. Through poetry, Deaf individuals reclaim narrative control, sharing perspectives often overlooked in hearing-dominant spaces. Simultaneously, their innovations have expanded poetry’s horizons, reminding us that at its essence, poetry is about human connection rather than specific sensory experiences.

As digital platforms increasingly showcase signed poetry to global audiences, we witness the beautiful paradox that while categories may separate us, art—especially poetry—reunites us in our shared humanity, transcending the very boundaries we create. Did you know that Deaf Awareness Month is celebrated each September, and that International Week of the Deaf takes place every year during the last full week of September? Have you ever paused to wonder how those observances might inspire you to explore the rich world of signed poetry?

If you’d like to participate more actively in elevating Deaf poets and their work, consider following organizations such as the National Association of the Deaf, follow platforms of deaf poets, attend local ASL poetry slams or showcases like Busboys & Poets and support Deaf-led publications. By sharing signed performances on your social feeds, or learning a few simple ASL signs yourself, you help ensure that Deaf voices and visions remain central to our ever-evolving literary landscape. Look out for more events during September, Deaf Awareness Month!

Written by Serena Pallan

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Serena Pallan is a student poet who has conducted research with the Deaf community and hopes to unite her academic work with her love for poetry. She is the founder of Voices of Tomorrow, a youth poetry initiative that will launch the first-ever youth stage at New York City's Poetry Festival this July.

Poems for May 2025's Trending Searches

Is life on Earth getting worse or are we paying more attention to the bad parts? Dr. Charles Chaffin explains, “Why We’re Drawn to Bad News” as a product of our brains’ evolutionary negativity bias:

“From a survival perspective, early humans who were hyperaware of threats were more likely to avoid danger and pass on their genes. This bias toward negativity, known as negativity bias, remains with us today, making bad news inherently more attention-grabbing than good news (Rozin & Royzman, 2001).”  

May’s trending search topics conveyed a strong collective negativity bias. I guess we’re all trying our hardest to survive. With any luck, reading poetry can help.

1. Joe Biden

On May 18th, news broke that former president Joe Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Condolences and well wishes flooded social media. Biden shared his gratitude on X. 

It’s easy to connect Joe Biden with poetry, as he chose a groundbreaking inaugural poet in Amanda Gorman—the youngest ever to fill the role. Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb,” called for unity, with numerous lines written in the wake of the January 6th insurrection. Listeners were deeply moved. 

If you loved “The Hill We Climb” but never looked further, here’s an opportunity to read a different Gorman poem touching on themes of American identity.

2. Brooklyn Bridge

Continuing the sad news trend, a Mexican navy ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, with two casualties reported so far. More condolences spread through news and social media. 

The Brooklyn Bridge is inherently poetic for me, as Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote a poem about it, and I wrote my senior honors thesis about Vladimir Mayakovsky. He was awed by the bridge on a visit to the U.S., and poets reliably turn awe into art.  

In my favorite section of the poem, Mayakovsky likens the bridge’s skeletal frame to bones and fossils from which post-apocalyptic geologists might reconstruct our modern times. I love this idea.

3. Valeria Marquez

I hadn’t heard of TikTok influencer Valeria Márquez prior to writing this, and hesitated to include her when I learned that she was shot and killed during a livestream. I don’t want to trivialize death. But nothing about this round-up is trivial: it reflects the desperate terror of contemporary life. 

I don’t know much about this story, but I know that gun violence is a widespread modern scourge. Richard Michelson writes about it in his poem, “Angels with Guns Guarding the Gates of Heaven.”

4. Nottoway Plantation

Friends on social media shared celebratory posts as the U.S.’s largest remaining plantation burned down. Who could blame them? Quintessa L. Williams published “The Fire This Time: On the Burning of the Nottoway Plantation” on Medium, highlighting the disconnect between Black history and white nostalgia. 

Sean Hill elucidates similar themes in his poem, “Governor’s Mansion Hands.” Don’t skip the footnotes.

5. Tornado

Continuing May’s bounty of death and disaster, deadly tornadoes hit southern Kentucky, with more slated to impact mid-Atlantic states in the coming days. Sensational news headlines suggested a lack of warning due to federal budget cuts, but local agencies clarified that stations were staffed at the time and warnings issued. 

I’ve experienced a few tornado warnings in my life and was fortunately missed by the storms’ paths each time. They carve shocking and surreal trails of destruction through communities and landscapes. Eric Pankey uses a diorama to capture the mood of an impending tornado in his poem, “Realia.”

Few people searched for spring blossoms this May, but I think we need them more than ever. As a final offering of hope and healing, I share one more poem from our current U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Límon: “Instructions on Not Giving Up.” 

Hang in there.

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Written by Allisonn Church

Allisonn Church was born in a small rural community to a mother who pinned butterflies in glass cases and hid scarab beetles in her jewelry box. Her first favorite poem was “The Willow Fairy”’ by Cicely Mary Barker. Find a list of Allisonn's published work at churchpoems.wordpress.com.

How To Seed A Poetry Garden

A. Seven Tips to Get the Poetry Party Started

Writing a poem can often feel daunting. The blank page (or screen) sometimes reveals more shadows than rays of inspiration. Luckily, for anyone in search of a poetic thumb (of any pigment, fragrance, or seed variety), when approached in a step-by-step form, the process is surprisingly friendly—and rewarding. 

This quick guide will help you seed a poetry garden, from single lines to bouquets of book-worthy reads prepped to greet wherever the day might lead—whether a backyard patio at sunrise or a poetry reading!   

Ready? Grab a bucket full of anticipation, some Bic ink, and a stack of recyclable paper (no lines needed) and prepare to seed originality.

1. Scan Your Natural Environment

Before putting pen to paper, or finger pad to keyboard, survey your surrounding landscape. Take note of the birds, the bees, and all objects (moving or stationary) in between. Inhale your environment—from sight to scent to backdrop frame. Neglect no stone or token of potential meaning. Settings are often more fertile than at first instinct. Don’t stop at your line of visibility. Scavenge for sensory meaning—the honk of the school bus, the goose, the gander, the hum of the laundry machine—in the mundane and the memory. 

2. Germinate Grounds for Topic Generation

Clear your surroundings and setting of debris. Remove visible weeds, to-do lists, soggy cliches, and drained (cells and email tendencies) batteries. Turn down reports of failing resistance. Turn up background tunes—from pop music to Sinatra and make the most of their generative qualities. Once the ground is prepped for poetry, revisit the compass of nearby imagery. Look up--the blank sky hosts a canvas of opportunity. Look down--inchworms lead to ear worms. Leave expectations behind--bare feet often stumble then sashay across unexpected melodies. Let ideas swarm. Check behind nearby leaves--honeybees pollinate petals and potentially prolific and sweet phrasing.

3. Spread Nutrient-Rich Craft

It’s time to prime your pen for poetic steps that feel less daunting. When fertilizing for a title, an image, or a line, break form. Let your eyes wander and allow your mind to wonder. Subtle winds can yield strong verbs. Capture moments as they unfold- whether in traditional five-seven-five haiku or informal snippets dropped during a picket fence meet up. Reflect on your personal process for planting new seeds words.

Some friendly tips follow!

·       Follow what flows in its most natural form.

·       Water generously but wait patiently for the right verbs.

·       Sprinkle end rhymes with hesitation. Do not hesitate to fall into a rhythm.

·       Harvest curiosity about details. Detail daily peculiarities.

·       Test and iterate your (s)oil’s pigmented properties.

·       Rotate ink and keyboard tapping for optimal fertilization.  

·       Paddle in elements (e.g., alliteration, assonance, and figurative verse).

·       Consider rotating schedules for planting new words.

·       Symbolism often hides in plain sight. Pick it!

·       Imagery sprouts when least expected. Capture it!

4. Pace Your Planting

Think carefully about what you hope to plant— truth or fiction? Formal sonnets or experimental diary entries? Dig as deep as needed to identify a subject. Don’t over-dig or over-plot a plan. Then, write without a care for the elements, whether seasonal or poetic. Once words flow like rain don’t take cover. Let the natural elements saturate the ground the paper depends on. What grows now can be pruned later, as needed.

 5. Plot Your Growth Path 

Struggling to sustain your momentum? Visit your local public library for free packets of inspiration. Tread slowly. Read widely. Pick words with strong pigments and unforgettably flavorful sensory qualities. Sprinkle description and vivid imagery generously. Avoid any notion of a perfect plot or poem. Remain open to unexpected pairings. Revel in the magic of a soon-to-full page of your own doing.

6. Pruning

Finally, it’s time to mold what you’ve grown. Keep track of versions and half-grown seeds with labels and clear file names. Save any plucked petals or stray twigs-- perhaps they’ll bloom a poem of their own. Consider revisiting overall structure when a piece is nimble and not yet confident in its bones. Workshop the poem when it’s near to final form.  

7. Enjoy the Garden You’ve Grown!

After ample time to inhale the fresh scent of fresh words, pluck some stems and poems in whatever form! Share widely with friends, family, and the literary community. Remember—flowering poinsettias aren’t technically flowers and sunflowers come in more than seventy forms. Rethink what you think of the standard poem and see what blooms!

B.  Petals, Poems and Guides to Poetic Florals and Flourish

Poetry is as varied as any bloom. With so many varieties of flowers, seeds, and poems – take your shot. Pen your own piece and bloom life on the moon!

-       Some lilacs have a double form--rebel like a flower would.

-       Add unusual flower terms--peach anemones, azaleas, bonsais, white egret orchids, a sacred lotus– each conjures its own gorgeously unique image. Do the same with your poem.

-       Every petal—and pedal – has a story. Capture your daily routine for its unique imagery.

-       Inhale an alphabet of color: forsythia. sweet Juliet rose, teddy bear sunflower, white bat flower, saffron crocus, bird of paradise, eucalyptus gum tree. Chew on this! Chew on that! Then blow a new bubble poem of flowering bulbs.

-       Seed parrot tulips. Repetition is a welcome form of emphasis and rhythm in poetic gardens.

-       Group stanzas of towering stalks and clean lines, then weed to redefine the desired form.

-       Fertilize your poems with unexpected words.

-       Continue to pick images and before you realize it, you’ll have a poetry bouquet!

C. Seeding Packet FAQs

Ready to pluck the Bic and push aside ambivalence? Why not? Poetry is secretly known as an alternate form of sunshine therapy.

We wish you a sun-drenched, sensory experience. Before you go to plant your poetry (hurry!), review a few affirmations and acknowledged queries.

1.     From flowering towers of poetic terms to single stalks stanzas of serendipity, there’s no right size for a poetry bouquet.

2.     Lines of seeds can end at their most natural resting point.

3.     Rely on all senses. Inhale, but also touch, listen, and taste to optimize the poetic haul.

4.     Green leaves with green flowers—redundancy is nature’s coveted vine and superpower. Poetry can follow.

5.     Convert seasonal sniffles into new haiku. Pick one string of syllables. Pick two. Then reseed and rebloom.

6.     Most of all, gift what your grow. Tuck a fresh poem in your pocket and gift it to whomever might need poetry’s power. Recite poems on the subway. Tape haibun to stop lights. Place a poem like you would a posie-- in the palm of a friend or stranger however nosy.

Happy planting poeting!

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Jen Schneider is a community college educator who lives, works, and writes in small spaces in and around Philadelphia.

Father Verses Son: An Interview with Filmmaker & Writer Ari Gold

Father Verses Son is a stunningly illustrated poetic correspondence about life, death and the human comedy - and about men bumbling towards love. Selected for Scribner’s Best American Poetry, this new book began when a 99-year-old Beat-era novelist is reactivated into writing again by his sons, who send him poems by US Mail. One of those sons, Ari Gold, is a member here at PSNY & sat down for an interview with How to Poet.

What’s the earliest memory you have with your Father?

I was about three years old, around the time of my parents’ divorce. I was climbing a piano so that I could see out the window of the house - I had to say goodbye to my dad who was walking away down on the street. As I climbed, the piano became very steep and just at the moment I was about to be able to wave to him I was sliced up by rotating knives. My first memory is a bad dream! Fortunately, my waking memories are much more pleasant and loving: singing the sound of seagulls and foghorns in the steam room at the Press Club. This latter memory appears in my poem “Forever Christmas Light on Sexy Broadway.” The divorce is there too, in different poems.

How was poetry spoken about in your home?

I grew up with my mom and would visit my dad in the afternoon and sometimes we would write short stories on his typewriter together. He didn’t really talk about poetry until much later, as an adult, as we edged towards the need for brevity in our communication and he was in his final years. He had wanted to be a poet when he was a young man, but publicly backed away from it by the time he got through college. It was great to be a part of him getting back into it in his 90s. The myth of people calcifying at a certain age is just that, a myth.

Why did you turn to poetry, and not a film, to chronicle this history?

Actually I did both: we made this book of poetry correspondence, called Father Verses Sons (FatherVerses.com) and then also filmed a fully improvised movie where we “play ourselves”: Brother Verses Brother (BrotherVerses.com). The movie focuses more on my musical relationship with my brother, but my father also acted in it, a few weeks before he died. Francis Ford Coppola has recognized this tiny little film, and joined the team as executive producer, which will be helpful in getting the film out into the world. We improvised the film in the streets, with the first scene being right in front of City Lights Books, where we launched the book.

What was the biggest peak in constructing this collection, what was the deepest valley?

When I was mailing my father poems by US mail - poems I had been writing with my online poetry group during the pandemic - it was lovely to get piles of new poems back from my dad, and to know that we could inspire each other. We were able to share truths about his confronting aging and death, and I saw his humor and zest for life, and I was able to be sure that he really read what I sent him, which wasn’t always true about our communication when I tried to talk with him on the phone the correspondence sustained us both during lockdown.

The biggest valley by far was that just as I finished the many months of layout (it’s a book of poems and photographs, so the layout was fun but laborious), my collaborators - my father and brother - both became suddenly and seriously ill. My dad was in SF, my brother in LA, and my father died. My brother was in the hospital with a mysterious illness for about two months, and survived, but after these months I was wrecked emotionally. The book was being printed while all this went down, and I had to perform the book launch at City Lights without either of them, which was very challenging emotionally. My brother is back to good health now, which I am so grateful for.

What about the Beat poets do you think us modern poets should keep at the forefront of our practice?

Starting in college, my dad was good friends with Allen Ginsberg, and not a fan of Kerouac at all - I think he had mixed feelings about the whole designation of the Beats. I personally like the fact that the Beats democratized poetry and made it cool - I think this kind of revival is necessary now. I’m not sure it’s quite happening with the Instagram / TikTok poetry trend. It’s good to know that people at least like the idea of poems, but I do think some discipline in the use of language is necessary and missing in some “popular” poetry these days. But yes: bring it to the streets, read your poems out loud, perform with music! I’ve done this on stage with different bands, with Glen Hansard and with others. The Beats, for all their flaws, remembered that poetry is music.

After reading this book, do you have a reading list you can suggest to our readers, to explore this era and what these figures can teach us personally?

“The Man Who Was Not With It,” by my dad Herbert Gold, and “Still Alive, A Temporary Condition” (also called “Not Dead Yet”) are great visions of the Beat-adjacent world that I think are worth reading.

Could you leave us with a favorite excerpt/poem from the book & why?

I’ll give you a poetry-pair - short ones to give the vibe of a father and son talking about love and death:

Diagnosis & Verdict

(by Herb)

Even well into my eighties

I thought I was a young man.

I knew I would die someday

But the diagnosis would have to be

He died of the complications of young age.

It’s Death!

(by Ari)

Fire alarm!

Emergency!

It’s Death!

Death is coming!

It’s around the corner!

Or maybe it crashed into a ditch!

It got lost on the way back from the game!

It’s been sidearmed by a jackknifed truck and fell into a hole!

It’s taken a detour because of Mama Wilbur’s amazing cupcakes off Exit B!

It’s having a nap down by that pond where Judy DiAngelo lost her bra (and maybe more)!

It’s chasing a dog who’s chasing his tail who’s chasing the dog around the garbage pail!

Come visit, Death, don’t be scared!

You belong here, you know.

And though none of us want you to come,

we really really couldn’t live without you.

We’re so thankful to Ari for sharing the behind-the-scenes to creating this poignant collection. It’s the perfect gift for Father’s Day - grab your copy at the link below!

“A wise & loving book that tells me more about men than ten years of marriage.” —Natasha Leggero

“Outsmarts sadness & death.” —Jerome Charyn, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

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Written by F.M Papaz featuring Ari Gold

F.M Papaz is Greek-Australian poet, editor and teacher who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Five South and Mantissa Poetry Review. She is the Managing Editor of Milk Press and a 2024-2025 Barbara Germack Foundry Fellow. Connect @fmpapaz on socials or fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life.

Ari Gold is a director, poet, musician, and founder of Grack Films. His third feature, Brother Verses Brother—a one-shot musical executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola—premiered to rave reviews at SXSW alongside his debut poetry collection, Father Verses Sons, which was written as a “correspondence in poems” by US mail alongside his dying Beatnik-era father Herbert Gold. A Student Oscar winner who’s premiered films at Sundance, Telluride, and Karlovy Vary, Ari’s work blends emotional depth and formal innovation. His next film, Helicopter, is now in post and features Alejandro Jodorowsky. His eclectic career includes the cult comedy Adventures of Power, the romantic drama The Song of Sway Lake, a drumming podcast called HotSticks, and a Guinness World Record for leading the largest air-drum ensemble on Earth. He is on instagram @arigold. 

Mother's Day: Power & New Beginnings

Maya Angelou said, "to describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power." Motherhood is power and motherhood is beginnings. Power because mothers grow a life into being and beginnings because that was the site our creation, our first breath began there, with a mother. This Mother’s Day, we’d love to share five poems to reflect today on our complex relationships to the many facets of motherhood.

1. For New Mothers

New Motherhood can look like a growing belly. It can look like discomfort, reevaluating. It looks like the Great Unknown and Infinite Possibility all at once. This Rachel Richardson poem encapsulates the prologue of it all.

Ultrasound

By Rachel Richardson

Novel unbegun,

half-loaf rising,

lighthouse northward

and anchor south.

Lemon to grapefruit,

you sleep-step sidewise,

turnover, pop-up,

tongue in the mouth.

2. For Complicated Maternal Relationships

When I think poetry & mothers, I think first of Ocean Vuong. All his works are heavily inspired by his relationship with his mother, but his last poetry collection titled, Time is a Mother, is a must-read on this topic.

From Headfirst, by Ocean Vuong.

“Don’t you know? A mother’s love

neglects pride

the way fire

neglects the cries

of what it burns. My son,

even tomorrow

you will have today. Don’t you know?”

3. For Mothers that are Gone

Sharon Olds is known for her many collections of family poems. I’ll never forget the intensity of reading her ninth collection ‘One Secret Thing’ which explored her breathtakingly fraught relationship with her Mother & the difficulty this created in moving through grief as she grew sick and after she passed.

Here’s an excerpt from a beautiful one titled, Her Birthday As Ashes in Seawater:

By now, my mother has been pulled to the top

of many small waves, carried in the curve that curls

over, onto itself, and unknots,

again, into the liquid plain,

as her ions had first been gathered from appearances

and concepts. And her dividend,

her irreducible, like violet

down, thrown to the seals, starfish,

wolf spiders on the edge-of-Pacific

floor, I like to follow her

from matter into matter, my little quester,

as if she went to sea in a pea-green

boat. Every separate bit,

every crystal shard, seems to

be here — her nature unknowable, dense,

dispersed, her atomization a miracle,

the earth without her a miracle

as if I had arrived on my own.

4. For Metaphorical Births

All too often, conversations around fertility, birth and motherhood are rife with pressure, insensitivity & patriarchal ideals.

Dorothea Lasky’s The Birth addresses this as only she could, with sharp humor and satire:

The birth isn’t about poetry

It is about screaming pain on a Sunday

Hailing a cab and head racing

To the hospital, now so close to the new apartment

I had a baby inside of me

But no one expected it to happen so fast

Or then at least they said they didn’t

Maybe they expected it to happen so fast

All along

Alone in the waiting room I shook and shook

And the blood ran down my legs

Later with the magnesium

I thought of the many permutations of the bald head

Pale, pickling fish skin, glowing with scales

5. For the Hope Mothering Brings

Whatever your proximity to the act of birthing and raising, to witness it is to witness an act of hope and faith. Motherhood is hope-bringing, it’s faith-expanding. This is what makes it terrifying and important - these are influential seeds of metaphysics. The poem Good Bones, by Maggie Smith, never fails to amaze me with how it captures the nuance of this:

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.

Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine

in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,

a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways

I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least

fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative

estimate, though I keep this from my children.

For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.

For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,

sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world

is at least half terrible, and for every kind

stranger, there is one who would break you,

though I keep this from my children. I am trying

to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,

walking you through a real shithole, chirps on

about good bones: This place could be beautiful,

right? You could make this place beautiful.

Written by F.M Papaz

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Writer Bio:

F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian poet, editor and teacher who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Five South and Mantissa Poetry Review. She is the Managing Editor of Milk Press and a 2024-2025 Barbara Germack Foundry Fellow. Connect @fmpapaz on socials or fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life.

Overusage

Trust me when I say: I get it, the difficulty of writing. We pour ourselves into the words, bleeding onto the page, only for publishing houses to come back and say the work doesn’t capture the reader’s attention, or is lacking urgency, or isn’t the right fit at this time. There’re authors who, if they bear witness too many rejects, stop believing in their magic gift. 

Even now, when you’re reading these words…someone, somewhere…across both time, and space, is speaking to you. The scrawls of text I’ve put on this page makes sense in the mind, and they can transport us back to either some of the happiest moments in our life or they can take us to depths inside an infinite Hel[1]. It is why the saying “The pen is mightier than the sword,” is a real thing. 

It's why, when we do get these rejections, we turn to our work. We overanalyze the context, and then use both adjectives and adverbs to help convey the mood, tone, and scene we’re trying to capture. Right? Wrong. This’s where most new writers lose themselves: in adverbs and adjectives. Most of the time, we think they’re doing justice to the work by allowing different words to help guide the reader into the situation we want them; but, instead, this muddies the message. 

Think of these lines for a moment: 

There are names for what binds us:

strong forces, weak forces.

These are the first two lines from Jane Hirshfield’s poem, For What Binds Us. By analyzing them, we see how, and why, there’s no need for the extra usa of adverbs and/or adjectives. Putting added detail takes away from the strength of the line, rather than aiding, because trying to define a quantity for the amount of names that bind us doesn’t matter. Only the implication matters. The quantity of things that bind us is always going to be different for the individual reader, which is why the same thing can be said for further identification of strong and weak with pinpoint accuracy. What is strong for one might be weak for another, and vice versa. 

So, the next time we work a piece, don’t think of how many words can get the point across. Instead, think of how a few words––ones that have been chosen with purpose––can impact mood, and tone, within a specific scene. 

¹ Helheim, the realm presided over by Hel, is a place of eerie desolation and perpetual twilight. It is said to be located beneath the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree, and is accessible only to those who have passed through the veil of death. Helheim is a realm of contrasts, with vast icy plains juxtaposed with dark, cavernous halls where the souls of the departed reside.

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Gregory Gonzalez graduated from Sierra Nevada University, where he earned both a BFA and an MFA in Creative Writing. He's studied under and many other wonderful artists, and his works can be seen in the San Joaquin Review Online, Hive Avenue: A Literary Journal, the Dillydoun Review, Wingless Dreamer Publishing, Bridge Eight: Film & TV, Drunk Monkeys: Literature and Film, Causeway Literature, Nat 1 LLC, Vermilion Literature, Writing Workshops, and Havik Literary Journal.

Poems for April 2025's Trending Searches

In addition to it being National Poetry Month, April is also Autism Acceptance Month, a time to recognize and honor the beauty of diverse experiences. Yet in the middle of April, an ignorant political figure took the time to make false and hurtful claims about the autistic community. Thus, autism and rfk autism both show up on the trends list.

This month, I am exclusively sharing poems written by autistic poets. Each featured poet publicly self-identifies as autistic, and you can learn more about them in their bios or on their websites. As usual, each poem also corresponds to a popular topic that piqued our collective interest this April.

1. Autism

“Autism influences how people experience and interact with the world,” per the National Autistic Society. This can include everything from social interaction to cognitive and sensory perception. Rapt viewers have begun to learn more about autistic differences via Netflix’s hit show, Love on the Spectrum.

Lauded poet and co-founder of dis assembly: neurodivergent arts collab, Adam Wolfond uses poetry to share his unique perspective as a non-speaking autistic person. I found this breathtaking paragraph by the author in a blurb about his work, Open Book in Ways of Water:

“A man of autism answers the ways of the body much of the time and that means my body rallies the artful atmospheres that are dancing me and the real feeling can dance the atmospheres as my body presence and pace shifts other bodies to be free. Having a ticcing body is making the dance about disorder but really it is about a different and diverse way of languaging with many feelings and bathing and immersing and I don’t have any other way.”

2. Sinners

Whether filtering search trends for the last 4 hours, 48 hours, or 7 days, Sinners remains on the list. This horror movie set in the Mississippi Delta in 1932 was released on April 18th, and folks were excited about it. I’ve loosely gathered that it’s about twin brothers fighting evil in their hometown. 

Poet Joanne Limburg wrote an ominous poem about a brother that could pretty easily become the plotline of a horror film—the ending is dark. Ever since my own brother terrorized me with a Freddy Kruger glove, a Nightmare on Elm St. cassette tape played in the dark, and a penchant for hiding in shadows, I’m already pretty quick to conflate brothers and horror. 

3. Oblivion Remaster

Does this sound like something from the 80s or what? It’s a video game thing—specifically The Elder Scrolls—but I can’t understand much beyond that. That works fine, as one definition of oblivion shared by Cambridge dictionary reads, “a situation in which you are not aware of what is happening around you.” That’s me during this video game re-release. 

Nathan Spoon’s “The Genie Speaks” gives slightly surreal, prophetic oblivion vibes if you ask me. Check out this line:

“At the foretold

moment, our other earth opens a secret hand. If

there is a purpose, we will know it soon enough,

although not knowing feels satisfactory and good”

Are you hooked? I love this poem.

4. Colossal Squids

A team of researchers recently recorded the first ever footage of a colossal squid. Previously, colossal squids were a bit like bigfoot. This new development is fascinating, and also makes me a little sad. There’s something to be said for not discovering everything on earth, for keeping some things secret, or on the periphery. 

While likely meant only to describe her own experience as an autistic person, Hannah Emerson’s “Peripheral” reasonably sums up my reaction to the colossal squid footage, too.

5. World Quantum Day

April 14th was World Quantum Day.  I had never heard of it. Quantum science is a vast and engrossing field with many implications. Some have used quantum science as a basis of evidence (or at least plausibility) for reincarnation. 

While researching this story, I learned the word anamnesis from Leslie McIntosh, who published a poem by that title. Google tells me that anamnesis refers to memories from a supposed previous existence. Very quantum, right?

In the end, April was mysterious and profound. It provided opportunities to view life from new perspectives, which is also an essential function of poetry. No wonder it was National Poetry Month, too. 

Most likely, the world as we know it will continue on in May, but it probably depends on quantum physics and maybe colossal squid—I’m not sure.

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Written by Allisonn Church

Allisonn Church was born in a small rural community to a mother who pinned butterflies in glass cases and hid scarab beetles in her jewelry box. Her first favorite poem was “The Willow Fairy”’ by Cicely Mary Barker. Find a list of Allisonn's published work at churchpoems.wordpress.com.

A Film Guide for Poets

We all know how easy it is to lose writing momentum or have seasons of withering inspiration. One of my favorite things to do when I’m facing a writer’s block is to turn to another genre; film. Yes, you read right. I jump into another writer’s visual world, swim around for a bit, and hopefully find inventiveness from their creations to channel into my own. 

So allow me to unfold my tiny list of films about poets & poetry for you to ‘write’ without writing; relax and enjoy the thematic artistry, you never know – your next favorite film could be on the list.

1. Dead Poets Society

Yes, we’re starting with an oldie and a goodie. Released in 1989, this film has remained a classic for a multitude of reasons, but we’d be negligent if we didn’t recognize a Mr. Keating in our own lives. One of my college creative writing professors was the first to encourage me to experiment with poetry and I’m thankful for her everyday. 

Each time I come back to this film, I find something new to appreciate. It’s a timeless story focused on not just poetry, but companionship and the heartbreaking trajectory of growing up. 

Notable Quote: “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we’re members of the human race.”

2. Paterson

This is an underrated gem I found years ago – a film which follows a bus driver and poet named Paterson, on his daily route through Paterson, New Jersey. Yes, his name is Paterson and he lives in Paterson, NJ — quite peculiar if you ask me.

This film is quiet, in all regards. It takes us through his life as a driver, meeting a variety of passengers, and eventually ending his day back at home with his wife Laura. There’s no explosions or grand gestures – it’s a film centered on the simplicities of life. It reminds me to be conscious in my interactions and embrace even the most mundane circumstances, finding beauty in the ordinary.

Notable Quote: “Without love, what reason is there for anything?”

3. Kill Your Darlings

Admittedly, I haven’t seen this film in its entirety, but plenty of friends have recommended it to me. Loosely based on true events, this film brings together poets Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs after the murder of David Kammerer. It’s been said that this occurrence essentially launched The Beats/Beat Generations – a literary and artistic movement focused on challenging conventional norms and instead, vouched for rebellion, individuality, and freedom. 

Notable Quote: “Another lover hits the universe. The circle is broken, but with death comes rebirth. And like all lovers and sad people, I am a poet.”

4. Ruby Sparks

Okay, this may not be poetry, but has anyone ever wished their words would melt off the page and become a reality? That’s exactly what happens in Ruby Sparks, when writer Calvin faces such severe writer’s block that he writes his “dream girl” into reality. 

As you would guess, things don’t go as planned, but it’s a remarkable story about desire and inspiration. Don’t be turned away by the playful and light-hearted posters for this film – there’s much more at the core.

Notable Quote: “You haven’t written a person, okay? You’ve written a girl.”

5. Barfly

The first Charles Bukowski book I ever read was plucked off the shelves of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris. It was Love is a Dog From Hell. Granted, Bukowski has proven himself to be a controversial, if not very one-dimensional human being, but I still give poetic credit where it’s due. He was one of the first poets I really invested time in reading, and I feel it warrants this film being on the list. 

The screenplay for this film was penned by Bukowski himself and follows the relationship between two chaotic individuals. It’s labeled as a black comedy and yet, slivers of Bukowski’s life peek through, following some of his experiences in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. It’s not often that a poet dabbles in scriptwriting, maybe after watching you’ll be inspired to do the same?

Notable Quote: “Nobody who ever wrote anything worth a damn could ever write in peace.”

6. Little Women

One of the most writerly films ever, Little Women speaks to the heart of sensitive artists. This film is for poets, writers, and dreamers who aspire to go beyond the lot they’re given. Louisa May Alcott’s own writing career began with poetry at the age of eight. It’s only fitting that a woman who has delved in poetry, short stories, and novels belongs on this guide. 

Notable Quote: “I believe we have some power over who we love. It isn’t something that just happens to a person.” “I think the poets might disagree.”

7. If Beale Street Could Talk

James Baldwin only wrote one collection of poetry, Jimmy’s Blues, but his poetic sensibilities shine in this film based on his 1974 novel of the same name. The story follows childhood friends turned lovers Tish and Fonny living in Harlem. After Fonny is wrongly arrested with a crime he didn’t commit, Tish seeks to prove his innocence before welcoming their child into the world. Classic 70s Harlem community, loyalty & melancholy, intertwine to create this devastating and beautiful on-screen adaptation of one of Baldwin’s greatest creations.

Notable Quote: “I hope that nobody has ever had to look at anybody they love through glass.”

We hope one of these titles sparks inspiration to write a new poem or three!

Did we miss any films that belong on this list? Comment them, below!

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Kaci MoDavis (she/her) is an MFA Candidate in The Writer’s Foundry at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Pennsylvania, she earned her B.A. in Sociology & Creative Writing from Susquehanna University and enjoys literary fiction, gritty poetry, and the occasional speculative piece.

Poems for March 2025's Trending Searches

March on the internet finally wore me down: I deleted the Facebook app. After learning how many poets in my community had ditched the platform years ago, I was a little embarrassed that I still had it. Even without social media (or certain forms of social media), the internet itself persists and with it, our curiosity. Here’s a look at what’s on our collective minds this month, per Google Trends.

1. Tracy Morgan

Seeing Tracy Morgan on the trending list worried me: I remember his terrible limo accident from 2014. Is Tracy okay? Well, yes and no. Apparently he got sick while courtside at a Knicks game, creating an unpleasant delay. 

Sickness is traditionally poetic. It is vivid and sensory, all-consuming, emotional, and something universally experienced. I immediately recall a clever line from Vladimir Mayakovsky’s “The Backbone Flute:”

“This is, perhaps, the very last love in the world to dawn like a consumptive's flush.”

Mayakovsky was prone to satirizing grandiose poetic metaphor, especially in love poems. 

Today I read another memorable poem about sickness: “Duplex for the Sick & Tired” by Kay Ulanday Barrett. It hits.

2. St. Patrick’s Day

My great grandparents arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in June 1905, leaving their birthplace and home in Leitrim, Ireland. Of course I was going to choose St. Patrick’s Day from the trends list. 

Yeats is the obvious choice, and who doesn’t fantasize about living alone in a bee-loud glade? But, instead, I’d like to share a poem by Irish poet Derek Mahon, who passed away in 2020.

3. Astronauts Return

This month, two NASA astronauts returned after a nine-month stay on the International Space Station. Theirs was meant to be a much shorter mission, but global politics interfered. 

Like sickness, space is a common topic of poetry. It is mysterious, beautiful, and maybe the place where our souls were forged. We’re stardust, right?

I love a space poem; I had a list of them already pinned for a project, so I was ready for this. Here’s a great one called “Listening in Deep Space” by Diane Thiel.

4. Angst

Angst is a trending topic: is this the adolescence of the internet? I thought it might’ve been because the word showed up in an NYT Connections puzzle, but most of the angsty headlines I found were political: “Angst pervades a pair of Republican town halls — one in Trump country, the other in a swing state.” — AP News

Dictionary.com defines angst as, “a feeling of dread, anxiety, or anguish.” Yes, I’d say that’s definitely trending right now. 

Back to Yeats, I think “The Second Coming” is a pretty solid angst poem, but let’s look for something more recent. Here’s one to call out and soothe our collective angst, written by Chungmi Kim.

5. Temptation Island

Without looking, I know this is a TV show. I’ve never seen it. When I google, it’s not immediately obvious to me why this topic is trending: there are behind the scenes stories and “burning questions” answered. Finally, one headline lets me know that the show just returned to Netflix. 

Well, here’s another opportunity to read a poem by Airea D. Matthews, featured in last month’s roundup as well. If you’re in the market for poetry that’s relatable—the kind of stuff we’re all searching for— you may want to grab one of Airea’s collections.

That’s it for March, and now it’s finally spring. Are we reborn yet?

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Written by Allisonn Church

Allisonn Church was born in a small rural community to a mother who pinned butterflies in glass cases and hid scarab beetles in her jewelry box. Her first favorite poem was “The Willow Fairy”’ by Cicely Mary Barker. Find a list of Allisonn's published work at churchpoems.wordpress.com.

Before You Click Submit: How To Get Published

In 2023, I shot off 67 submissions across various literary magazines and poetry contests around the world. I had zero strategy and was quite indiscriminate in what I sent and where I sent it. From those 67 submissions, I received 4 acceptances, a rate of 5.9%. 

After I began my first editorial role at Tabula Rasa Review midway through 2023, I learnt very quickly how unproductively I had been approaching the submission process. I decided to pump the brakes in the following year and expand my editorial experience.

In 2024, I published four issues with two different literary journals, the other being Milk Press, PSNY’s publishing arm. I’ve been serving as the Managing Editor of Milk Press since September last year, and thought it was about time I shared what I’ve learned!

Here are my top four tips for submitting, after two years on the publishing side.

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1.) Be YOU

The only way to stand out is by honing the best asset we have as writers, our individuality.

A writer-friend of mine, Sara Saleh, put it this way: Everyone can write about heartbreak, but only you can write about YOUR heartbreak.

Editors – and I’d add, probably every experienced reader – have an instinct for work that contains authenticity, and work that is still in the emulation-phase (a very necessary growth stage of our writing lives). It takes some self-awareness to catch yourself when you’re writing for praise or prestige, and when you’re writing from the heart. It’s a cliche for a reason!

There is no complex recipe for emotional resonance, just one ingredient, honesty.

2.) READ THE PUBLICATION

Before I did Editorial work, I had heard this advice 100 times, and ignored it 101.

I’m ashamed looking back, how often I thought I could get away with faking my interest in a publication. It’s suuuuper obvious when submitters have never read an issue of the journal I’m working on. Between the three journals I have experience working on, their vibes are worlds apart.

My previous mag loved trimmed, imagistic pieces when it came to poetry. We rarely published anything with political connotations or satire. The same pieces that I would put through to a second round of reading there, I wouldn’t do for a Milk Press submission. The same goes at Milk Press, where we favor the lyrical and experimental. 

The same principle applies to manuscripts of publishing houses. Or finding a literary agent to represent your work. Or a good pair of jeans. It is far more nuanced than whether a piece contains strong material or not. It needs to be the right fit.

This has slowed me down in my own pursuits of publishing. I read more widely and patiently, taking mental notes of a publication’s vibe and whether any of my works are a genre and audience match for them. I have greater trust that if alignment exists, my writing will find its intended readership. Gone are the days of shooting off the same five poems to every open call!

3.) Don’t Submit a First (or Second) Draft

For a poem to appear effortless, it requires the exact opposite. Multiple drafts, enjambments tweaked to perfection, meticulous attention paid to the sonic and visual. I could go on. Our first drafts hurl a piece into existence, but they must evolve past this. Feedback is an essential part of that evolution. We all have blind spots! 

Ask yourself: how many people have read what I’m submitting and given me feedback? If it’s less than two, maybe it needs more time under construction before putting it out there.  If you don’t have more than two people you could show a piece to, you might be in need of a broader writing community. PSNY can certainly help with that! We have Virtual Intensives twice seasonally that involve thorough workshopping of your writing. In fact, PSNY was the first place I was exposed to just how fantastic and transformative workshopping can be when you have the right culture in the room.

4.) Pay Attention to Finer Details

You would be shocked at how many people do not even read a Submittable description before attaching a file and sending it off into the void. Submission guidelines are there for a reason folks – do the basics and respect the time and energy of editors by ensuring you double-check formatting and file stipulations. When there’s 100+ submissions to read, glaring mistakes on the submission form might prevent your pieces from even being opened. 

In 2025, who knows how many submissions and rejections I will accrue. But one thing is for sure, I’m trusting the process & I hope you will too!

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F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian poet, editor and teacher who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Five South and Mantissa Poetry Review. She is the Managing Editor of Milk Press and a 2024-2025 Barbara Germack Foundry Fellow. Connect @fmpapaz on socials or fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life.

How to Carve (and Serve) a Poem

Hungry? Hungry for a sampling of poetry that satisfies a longing? This simple-to-implement
guide (reusable, recyclable, and reliable) is just what you need to carve a poem like a pro in a 5-star kitchen. The bird (beat) is just about ready to prep for service in poetry. It’s a blank canvas. Pick your paper. Pluck your preferred workspace. Power up your carving knife. It’s time to take what’s been baking in the oven and prepare it for friends, family, and unexpected guests. Have reading glasses handy.

Step 1. Bake the Poem

Don’t be distracted by poultry paltry poetry sentiments. It’s true that themes are often stronger
when understated. At the same time, thematic impulses bloom from unexpected spices (and
seasons). Unique blends (you don’t need a formal reason), unexpected imagery, and surprising
pairings can deepen the overall flavor of your poetic output.

Exercise your inherent creativity and experiment with back-of-the-cabinet flavorings. Dress, then
bake your poem in ways different than your mother would. Add a dash of whatever spice –
whether preposition or proposition, comes to mention. Check the oven on an irregular schedule.
The best birds poems cook on their own timer.

Step 2. Rest the Words

Once all ingredients have been applied and baked until fully cooked, remove the poem from the
oven and prepare to carve a masterpiece worth serving. Identify a desk with limited distractions
then let the poem simmer for a timeline that only you can determine. Rest is a critical pre-carving step. The process allows imagery to settle and ensures optimal impact. Timelines will vary based on size, form, and distractions.

Step 3. Time to Carve

Ready? Supplies include a sharp eye and a sharper tolerance for good-bye. Remember, there’s
nothing personal when you break off a relationship with words that add weight but not flavor or
texture. Place the poem on a cutting board and assess its overall shape before pruning words.
Remove adverbs. Cut through layers of sagging prepositions. Angle the pen towards the imagery
as you cut words.

Once you hit bone– bare themes, naked emotions, bend the poem until the joints become visible.
Check for loose words of ambiguous meaning. Slice through vague descriptions. Pull back
unclear convictions. Remove excess fat. Evaluate for appropriate layers of gravy. Trim heavy
imagery. Not all adjectives add nutrition. Not all rhymes add rhythm.

Consider deep cuts in sagging middles. Follow the arch of the line and break edges with
traditional lines. Gently pull back strings of syllables to reveal rich undertones. Repeat for each
stanza. Stretch the power of the pause. Swap synonyms. Spread paired alliteration evenly across
the body.

Step 4. Repetition in Action

Repeat at least twice– three or four repetitions preferable, time permitting. Transfer to a fresh
spiral or digital file. Review all discarded words. Consider their potential use as components of a
title or poetic broth. Otherwise, toss– do not recycle. Scents linger unless wrapped tightly in bins
of trash and words passed over.

Step 5. In Service of Poetry

Carving often significantly improves a poem’s overall depth of flavor. Serve at your desired
temperature but remember not to overlook the all-important title (in some respects the most
important garnish on the poetic platter). Explore additional sides like bold and italics. For prose
poems, consider whether a haiku add-on (a haibun is born as the poetry buffet expands) might be in order.

Once plated, be sure to share with the wider poetry community. Poetry nurtures both writers and
readers. Grab your pen and dig in! Take orders. Offer as many servings or stanzas as desired. The notebook is hungry!

Enjoy.

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Jen Schneider is a community college educator who lives, works, and writes in small spaces in and around Philadelphia.