By Heidi Williamson
You’re fifteen and nowhere in a town on the edge of pitiful lands stripped of fruit. The burger van’…
Explore Poems: Coming of Age
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- By Sarah CarsonThe last man here wanted
what could not be taken: My girl, he'd say,
my baby. The narrow of his eyes… - By Sarah CarsonThe first gun we knew came in a toolbox for the apocalypse: hammer, barrel, crushed can, pack of Newports…
- By Carol Ann DuffyAt childhood’s end, the houses petered out
into playing fields, the factory, allotments
kept, like mistresses… - By Miguel A. VegaIf, even now, I am excited about it: every cow & horse,
every canoe on the surface of Pyramid Lake—…
- By Max FischerTaking off my clothes
feels like peeling off parts of
myself as if I’m a butterfly
with its wings sheared… - By Tamsin MooreLong, empty roads stretching as long as the gas tank is willing—
Sixty-seven dollars left from last … - By Natasha SajéDo for your neck what you do for your face.
Face your neck whatever the case. Pace yourself
for 35-55,… - By Lev RubinsteinTranslated By Tatiana Tulchinsky & Philip Metres1
Well, what on earth is there to say?
2
He knows something, but won’t tell.
3
Who knows, maybe you’re … - By Sholeh WolpéTall, stiff and spiny.
Try to make it to the other side
and risk savage thorns.
We who left home in our… - By Paul Laurence DunbarAs a quiet little seedling
Lay within its darksome bed,
To itself it fell a-talking,
And this is what… - By Ada LimónMy brother holds a snake by its head. The whole
length of the snake is the length
of my brother’s body. The snake’s head
is held safely, securely, as if my brother
is showing him something in the distant high grass.
I... - By Ada LimónI pass the feeder and yell, Grackle party! And then an hour later I yell, Mourning dove afterparty! (I call the feeder the party and the seed on the ground the afterparty.) I am getting so good at watching that...
- By SapphoTranslated By Dan Beachy-QuickAs the sweet-apple reddens on the high branch,
high on the highest branch, that the apple-pickers forgot… - By R. L. SwihartThe young man says, “Alan can
do anything he wants”
“Not fly,” I say
The young man returns
a puzzled look… - By CAConradFrank’s sister grew long blue feathers
she said it was worse than cutting teeth
she spent a month screaming in the cave
pushing them out
Frank would lie in bed at night
touching his own back
crying
praying it wouldn’t
come to him
but the day his sister flew... - By K. IverYou’ve never seen a lilac in Mississippi.
Backstage you wear lotion laced with
its chemical imitation. A ballet mistress
says relevé always as command: lift
onto the toe using only the heel.
Your ankle’s bewilderment
old as the horned owl gaze from
your mother hunched in the... - By Karyna McGlynn& watch Kevin Bacon conjure fake tears in a Real Hallway
& I am Real Tears in a fake hallway
& “Procreation is gross though”
I’m nine & a half, watching “The Miracle
of Life” on my mother’s bed
Stirring my shells & cheese
I see... - By Jackson HolbertMy mother was around
all the time back then, always walking
in and out of rooms carrying stacks
of … - By Forugh FarrokhzadTranslated By Sholeh WolpéAnd here I am,
a lonely woman
on the threshold of a cold season
at the dawn of realizing earth’s sullied existence
and the sky's blue despair
and the impotence of these hands made of cement.
Time passed.
Time passed and the clock struck four times.
Four times.
Today...