Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Monday, July 6, 2026
Sunday, July 5, 2026
RAE ARMANTROUT ~
Angel
When I was almost a woman
the men in the radio
called someone I thought
might be me
an angel and a baby.
I wasn't offended.
What did I know?
I knew I would have to
empty myself to fit inside
the songs. And I wanted
to be in them as long as
they lived, to be called to
and never come. To be full of
my lighter and lighter self,
with literally no place to go
as it is in heaven
Between
"The,"
we say,
making
our claim
on eternity.
"The"
short gray
sidewalk between
those shaved strips
of lawn
_____________________
Rae Armantrout
Go Figure
Wesleyan University Press, 2024
Saturday, July 4, 2026
CLIFFORD BURKE ~
C L I F F O R D B U R K E
1942- 30 June 2026
A friend to many in the small press world ~
captain of the seas with his Cranium Press
since the 1960s and long association with
Desert Rose Press while in New Mexico,
Hollow Orange was Clifford's literary journal
to keep.
Photo by Andrea Grimes
RONALD JOHNSON AGAIN ~
Wild Apples
with 'bow-arrow tang'
cows or birds or Johnny Appleseed
planted
New England westward
Whole orchards, boughs knotted
with fruits of coral & gold — to be eaten, Thoreau believed,
in the wind.
Whose 'bloom' rubs off in pockets
like wild horses
broken in, harnessed
to plow.
Neither orchards of the east, in lichened
walls, or west
hedged in eucalyptus—
bounded only by slopes of oak
& of maple,
the woods-apple comes sweet from the hills, both spring
nights & autumn
a wildflower sharpness, an earthy
cider
Domestics
shape
for hand,
& tint
of 'apple
color'
—but wild may brindle
as a cow,
may rust like
rock
____________________________
Valley of the
Many-Colored Grasses
The Song Cave, 2023
Friday, July 3, 2026
CROOKED FINGERS TONIGHT ~
Thursday, July 2, 2026
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Monday, June 29, 2026
Sunday, June 28, 2026
PABLO NERUDA ~
from Ode to Walt Whitman
Without
disdain
for the gifts
of the earth,
the capital's
abundant curves,
or the purple
initial
of wisdom,
you
taught me
to be an American,
you lifted my eyes
to books,
toward
the treasure
of the grain:
broad poet,
across the
clarity
of the plains,
you made me see
the high mountain
as my guardian.
translated from the Spanish
by Martin Espada
___________________________
Pablo Neruda
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Friday, June 26, 2026
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
MICHAEL ONDAATJE ~
The First Rule of Sinhalese Architecture
Never build three doors
in a straight line
A devil might rush
through them
deep into your house
into your life
_____________________
Michael Ondaatje
The Distance of a Shout
Knopf 2026














