alice-barrett

[alice-barrett]

St. Francis and the Sow by Galway Kinnell

The bud stands for all things....

The bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness, to put a hand on its brow of the flower and retell it in words and in touch it is lovely until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing; as St. Francis put his hand on the creased…

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Needle-Nose Pliers by Josh Parish

Do you know what is never the right tool for the job? Needle-nose pliers. Anytime I use needle-nose pliers … it is with hopeless resignation. I stare at a thing needing fixing, shake my head, and say, “I guess I could try … needle-nose pliers” I do not blame whoever invented them. They look like a very good tool. Would you like to twist, pull, … or push something small in a tight little…

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The Dove, La Paloma by Rafael Alberti

The dove was wrong She was mistaken. .. To travel north, she flew south, Thinking the wheat was water. She was mistaken. .. Thinking the sea was sky, That the night, the morrow. She was mistaken. .. That the stars, dew, That the heat, snowfall. She was mistaken. .. That your skirt was your blouse, That your heart, your home. She was mistaken. .. (She fell asleep on the…

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I Cannot Eat Peanuts Anymore... by Alice Barrett

“Springtime for Hitler and Germany” is viewable on YouTube. I cry. I send it to my theater friends. We read about Hallie Flanagan and “Cradle Will Rock.” In a tiny town we plan a play. … Isabella Rossellini modeled for Lancôme cosmetics. Her farm saves animals that would otherwise go extinct, She is nominated for an Oscar. In a tiny town We adopt a stray cat and fill a bird…

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Lace by Siobhan Campbell

Crochet, a hook and one set of fingers curling and coiling a hesitant confection in thread that will stand up on its own. Not lace, but lacy, the effort scrunching up your face, the making of making in your short-sighted eye. Potential. How before you begin, it is clambering clean and forever. You seem to detach from the chair from the room from the world we are in when you pull intent…

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On Election Day by Anita Gallers

my Jewish star hangs beside my “I voted” sticker against this green blouse the green of the trees and grasses and seaweeds that sustain everything the beautiful green it isn’t easy being the green of the bitter herb but also the green of spring the green of new hope and also of laughable naivete the green of the eager immigrant and the rescued refugee the green of verdegrised…

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Daybreak Over Chicopee by Marian Kent

Hope wears an itchy sweater with holes in the elbows, rinses returnable bottles, finds comfort in the rhythm of the clothes dryer. Hope belts out its plea, hitting the high notes rounding the Chicopee bend on 91 South. Hope turns on a dime or the ten bucks it thought was stashed in its wallet. Hope sighs and slouches, gives trigger warnings, sits out arguments. Hope…

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Old Poets by Michael Longley

Old poets regurgitate Pellets of chewed-up paper Packed with shrew tales, frog bones, Beele wings, wisdom. … …

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The Patience of Ordinary Things by Pat Schneider

It is a kind of love, is it not? How the cup holds the tea, How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare, How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes Or toes. How soles of feet know Where they’re supposed to be. I’ve been thinking about the patience Of ordinary things, how clothes Wait respectfully in closets And soap dries quietly in the dish, And towels drink the wet From the skin of…

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Winter Windows by Bee Boykin

Oh, windows.  This is why people have windows.   The most mundane things Painted with a coat of beauty.  Winter windows, This is why it snows.  The most beautiful things Nearly untouchable.  Oh, windows. This is why we stay inside.  The most delicate powder Turns my skin blue.  Winter windows.  Take a look out the window.  The snowfall blankets my body, Hidden from sight.

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Not for Sale by Mary Clare Powell

I want to be as benevolent as sun — light giving way to other light, pouring out in all directions for any to capture. … Not for sale, and no one can suck in all the sun just because he has the money. No one can capture and package or resell me, but each being can receive new rays every day in a winding coupling of death and generosity. … from Everyday Ecstasy

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Shakers by Mary Clare Powell

It is holy, to smooth a bed after rising from it....

It is holy, to smooth a bed after rising from it each morning, 4:30 in summer, 5:30 in winter. Holy sitting on the toilets, long skirts around, in the quiet New York hills. … To slide a hand along the rail of the curved stair circling in perfect scale, precision and simplicity from the third floor to the second to the first. To greet each brother and sister, eat. Holy the dance – quiver,…

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Written by Satan

Satire

The Bill of Rights was written by Satan. When I read them in high school, I was old enough. I can’t find them anywhere since then.  I guess no one is old enough. . Some were okay; we saved number 2 and 3 and 16. We have some soldiers staying with us now. And mom has two guns to keep us safe. . Some black kid punched my brother. Everyone saw. He got sent up. A criminal is a criminal is…

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Come to the Stone

           by Randall Jarrell The child saw the bombers skate like stones across the fields  As he trudged down the ways the summer strewed  With its reluctant foliage; how many giants  Rose and peered down and vanished, by the road The ants had littered with their crumbs and dead. “That man is white and red like my clown doll,” He says to his mother, who has gone away. “I didn’t cry, I…

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What Eve Chose

Eve chose knowledge over obedience, and escaped Eden. . She embraced the snake with open arms and ate. . She ran through the open gate smiling. . Eve knew. . With joy, she learned to dance. In suffering, she learned to heal, . In this world where Everything would never be named. . ….

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Prayers to Mary

Celtic Goddess Danu (source unknown) 1 Prayer to Mary Where are You hiding in this bleak time? The grey sky is covering where I stand. This is Your time to  Dig in the rubble, And search for my heart, Or at least to hold my hand. 2 Another Prayer to Mary You are at the end of my in breath, So close  Yet out of reach. The climber swings free, and In a panic cannot reach the rope. The…

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Waiting in the Rain

Waiting in the Rain

I am standing in the rain, Just standing here, looking into the grey air, Getting wet. . The country is raining down all that is worst in our nature As if these things had always been with us, In threatening clouds above us, Waiting for some thundering rage to let loose. . Soaked to the bone, I pray for forgiveness for not looking up into that coiled storm we knew must break. It is…