Category: Poetry (Page 1 of 15)

Photo credit: Dina Stander. Listen to Dina read “not fucking around” and “dressing to feel pretty in gimp city.”

not fucking around

I harbor a concern that when
I build a ritual fire for year’s end
setting transformational heat
to what I want to leave behind
once that fire snags my rage
the whole of everything will
burn to the ground
and I don’t wanna be some
feel better phoenix rising from the
ash heap of this terrible year
facing the dangers coming I’m
gonna need the ancient gnarly
not fucking around dragon
woken and hungry for justice
I’m gonna need wings to fly

dressing to feel pretty in gimp city:

1.… Read more “Poetry by Dina Stander”

Listen to Jennifer Ruth Jackson read her poems.

Thoracotomy in Eden

Indentation in my chest, I’m sew(n) together now.
Did you see the surgeon saw my rib in half?
Where is the missing piece? Could I have a funeral
or wake of ash when not under anesthesia?

I wish I could carve runes in the bone, a story
carried deep, and summon Eve who will love me
more than Adam because I’ll give her agency
and apples and all the pretty red things I possess —

like the four-inch scar on my chest I dedicate to her.… Read more “Poetry by Jennifer Ruth Jackson”

Listen to “The Swell” and “21 Things My Illness is Not,” read by The Blanket Sea Team.

The Swell

my thoughts
+++gather and swell
as days slink, snake
+++one into the other

they bulge, take shape
+++like balloon animals
a quivering panda
+++a righteous lion

they dance
+++in a circus ring
in the middle
+++of my living room

chase each other in circles
+++with abandon
gain speed
+++eventually land

at my feet
+++deflated
while the treetops
+++framed by a window

drag my eyes upwards
+++to watch a smudged sunset,
a blue moon
+++my hands run

through a blanket
+++of memories
pluck the forgotten,
+++clutch the ripest

my body remembers
+++bare toes of childhood
sinking into the comfort of clover,
+++a face open to anything

21 Things My Illness is Not

a phase
+++a choice
++++++an inconvenience
a ruse
+++a hoax
++++++an expense
a curse
+++an excuse
++++++temporary
a blip
+++bad luck
++++++a defense
a stunt
+++an option
++++++an embarrassment
a shame
+++a pity
++++++a liability
drama
+++baggage
++++++just a figment of my imagination

Born in northern India, Moni Brar now lives on unsurrendered territories of the Treaty 7 region and Syilx Okanagan Nation.… Read more “Poetry by Moni Brar”