this is/ what it is/ to be paperless—
Poetry
Posted inPoetry
“Americans detained when overheard speaking Spanish”
and I wonder out loud,¿Qué es esto?Since when did bilingualism become a crime?My bones tremble in Spanish, qué miedoand I stuffmy double r’s and my ñ’s in betweenmy cheeks.I hold them hostage.I’d rather them be detained than I. Pero I think of my daughterand I put my immigrant fears aside.I spit out my chewed-up Spanish […]
Posted inPoetry
Digital Vespers
In blue-lit rooms we bow our heads,Not to pray, but to scroll through feedsOf endless information streams—Where once were rosaries, now screensMark time in electronic beads. Each notification’s gentle pingEchoes like a distant chapel bell,While algorithms track our pathsLike ancient monks who kept their mathIn books where sacred stories dwell. Our fingers trace these glass-faced […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
T. S. Eliot can be intimidating. You should still read his poem ‘Marina.’
Whenever I teach a seminar on T. S. Eliot’s work, I spend the first day of class on ‘Marina.’
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
The Half-Life of Longing
Scientists haven’t studied the isotopes of heartache
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
Catalog of Cures in Ordinary Time
Like little sunsets, like a song
of ascents, I wish to remember my father.
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
The 2025 Foley poetry contest: Lyric questions about grief
These are poems that grip your heart, stretch your mind and startle your soul awake.
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
Matins
the wily accuser
tempted him in just the way to confuse a savior:
All this I will give you.