Sappho, “Standing by my bed”
Sappho can and will speak frankly about sex. In the famous Fragment 31, she’s open about her jealousy of a man “equal to the gods,” one who co...
Category: poetry
Sappho, “We shall enjoy it”
Years ago, at a Half-Price Books, I had been browsing for a little while. It was evening, the store was about to close, and for some reason I reflected I should...
Ada Limón, “Little Day”
More than ever, I have been writing. Writing, you will note, is not really a craft. It’s something—I’m not sure what exactly—which shapes how you se...
Emily Dickinson, “Good to hide, and hear ’em hunt!” (842)
Good to hide, and hear ’em hunt—immediately, I hear fear within adrenaline. A declaration of “good” that’s scared but tries to project b...
from Kwame Opoku-Duku’s “3 Poems”
This, from Kwame Opoku-Duku’s “3 Poems” (2016), paints the richest of scenes almost imperceptibly. I didn’t realize in how many ways it ...