poetry – Ideasmyth

PILGRIMAGES: Ashe Vernon, “Ashe’s Purple Shoes” (6/6)

Slam poet Ashe Vernon shares a performance of her poem, “Ashe’s Purple Shoes.” Performance originally published by Sole Sisters Film Shorts, a media project whose…

PILGRIMAGES: Ashe Vernon, “Post Panic Attack” (5/6)

Slam poet Ashe Vernon shares a performance of her poem, “Post Panic Attack.” Performance originally published by Write About Now, a weekly…

PILGRIMAGES, Ashe Vernon, “To the Boys Afraid of Dying” (4/6)

I. They said you had no right / to the softer parts inside your chest. / They said / you were better off without them. / They said / it made you weak. / I’m sorry. / I’m so sorry.

PILGRIMAGES, Ashe Vernon, “To the Girls Afraid of Dying” (3/6)

i. I know that look. / I know what it means to be that kind of starving— / to fling open your arms and dare the sky / to meet you. / I know the fear of the sky…

PILGRIMAGES, Ashe Vernon, “Self Portrait Dressed as a Self-Help Program” (2/6)

Two years ago, you were all white knuckle and grit. / You abandoned your softness in a cardboard box / on the side of the road…

PILGRIMAGES: Ashe Vernon, “Rewind” (1/6)

Ashe Vernon‘s poetry first came to my attention a couple […]

DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “The Forces of Lehman and Sinatra Combine” (6/6)

For today’s post I want to circle back to where we began, with David’s recent book (now available in bookstores) Sinatra’s Century…

DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “If Two Heads Are Better Than One Then…” (5/6)

David Lehman loves wordplay. He loves writing poems in both traditional and invented forms. He takes the writing of…

DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “Man of Letters Part 2” (4/6)

Yesterday we brought you Part I of a two-part in-depth interview with David. It touches on many of the themes and subjects that have concerned David over the course…

DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “Lehman’s Mind is an Arc” (1/6)

So happy and honored that David Lehman, the de facto dean of American Poetry is this week’s Featured Creative. Unlike so many…

DISCOVERIES: Julie Flanders, “Bury My Lovely” (5/6)

Today, I offer the song “Bury My Lovely,” for which I wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the video treatment with director Josh Taft. Emil Adler composed the music.

DISCOVERIES: Julie Flanders, “Surprise of Angels” (3/6)

This poem was written from a photo by William DiCecca (whose FB name is Bill DiCamera), which inspired me with its quiet mystic beauty. I seem to remember it as…

DISCOVERIES: Julie Flanders, “Joyride” (The Poem) (2/6)

Proof positive that time flies, I had to wear reading glasses to read Joyride in public. I then had to overcome my own vanity about this in order to post it. This was my great…

DISCOVERIES: Julie Flanders, “Joyride (The Book)” (1/6)

Julie Flanders is a master lyrical shape-shifter. Over the years, her award-winning songwriting skills (honed since her teens) have morphed into related manifestations…