p1Lines Written for a Fortieth BirthdayBy Shane McCraeThe joke you hear today you’ll hear Again next year again each ev- ery birthday after for the first ...LivingMidlife
The CovenantBy Brenda HillmanHaving stopped using dolphins to locate explosives in the Cold Warthey had 30 leftover dolphins.An officer...NatureAnimalsLivingMarriage & CompanionshipMidlifeTime & BrevityTechniquesImageryMetaphor + 2 more
Calling Things What They AreBy Ada LimónI pass the feeder and yell, Grackle party! And then an hour later I yell, Mourning dove afterparty! (I call the feeder the...LoveHeartache & LossRomantic LoveNatureAnimalsLivingComing of AgeMidlifeThe MindMemory & NostalgiaTime & BrevityRelationshipsMen & WomenMetersFree VerseTechniquesConfessionalImageryMetaphorSimileTypes/ModesProse PoemJoy & Contentment + 16 more
MeanwhileBy Richard Siken Driving, dogs barking, how you get used to it, how you make the new streets yours.Trees outside the...LivingMarriage & CompanionshipMidlifeRelationshipsHome Life
p1the black dykes at 40By R. Erica Doyleletting the words fly like smoke uncurling from our mouths we lie in bed with dykes ten years our junior...LivingMidlifeRelationshipsLGBTQ+Joy & Contentment
p1In Times of the Most Extreme SymbolsBy Corey ZellerWe spend the evening listening to folk songs from the early 2000s. Make a stew. Cut carrots the color...LivingLife ChoicesMidlife
A Bird in BishopswoodBy John TickhillIn a sesone of somere þat souerayne ys of alle, Þat was þe myry monþ of May May May is a “somere” month...LoveHeartache & LossUnrequited LoveNatureAnimalsWeatherLivingMidlifeSorrow & GrievingThe MindActivitiesJobs & WorkingTechniquesAlliteration + 7 more
p1The Last Hummingbird of SummerBy Beth Ann Fennellyreveals itself in retrospect. Unlike the first, whose March arrival bade you gasp, hands clasped, like...NatureAnimalsSocial CommentariesGender & SexualityLivingMidlifeThe BodyTime & BrevityTechniquesImagerySimileGratitude + 5 more
p1Fourth Wall ArpeggioBy A. Van JordanLately, my friends ask me, out of love, have I written about my mother, who suffers under the storm ...LivingGrowing OldHealth & IllnessMidlifeThe MindRelationshipsFamily & AncestorsVerse FormsSestinaStanza FormsMixedTechniquesImageryMetaphor + 7 more
p1Jiāngsū, Early SummerBy Anni LiuHe takes me, his adult child swaddled in foreignness, to the southern provinces. Opaque scenes unfold...LivingMidlifeTime & BrevityRelationshipsFamily & Ancestors
The ApplesBy W. S. Di PieroThe city budget squads have trimmed its hours. “You can’t get in, just go home why don’t you.” I couldn...Social CommentariesCities & Urban LifeLivingMidlifeMetersFree Verse
Menstruation at FortyBy Anne SextonI was thinking of a son. The womb is not a clock nor a bell tolling, but in the eleventh month of its...LivingGrowing OldMidlifeParenthoodMetersFree VerseTechniquesConfessional
What is Life?By John ClareAnd what is Life?—An hour-glass on the run, A Mist retreating from the morning sun, A busy, bustling...LivingDeathGrowing OldMidlifeThe MindActivitiesJobs & WorkingArts & SciencesPhilosophyTechniquesSimile + 4 more
p1All My Friends Are Finding New BeliefsBy Christian WimanAll my friends are finding new beliefs. This one converts to Catholicism and this one to trees. In a...LoveRealistic & ComplicatedSocial CommentariesPopular CultureReligionFaith & DoubtLivingLife ChoicesMidlifeThe MindDoubt & ContemplationRelationshipsFriends & EnemiesAnxiety & InsecurityDisappointmentHumor + 9 more
p1Glosa in Middle AgeBy Kathleen OssipTo have arrived here, weighed down with fistfuls of calendar entries, unsuitably boggle-eyed as if new...LivingLife ChoicesMidlifeThe MindMemory & NostalgiaVerse FormsAnxiety & InsecurityBoredomDisappointmentHumor + 3 more
p1HokkaidoBy Kit FanIt was summer in Hokkaido. The forest stole the wind and I swallowed my footsteps. Nobody came to the...NatureSummerAnimalsTrees & FlowersLivingMidlifeJoy & Contentment
A poem from From a Winter NotebookBy Matvei YankelevichAs winter went on, every morning’s spoon of buckwheat honey resembled more the taste of that isosceles...LoveDesire & PassionRomantic LoveNatureWinterLivingGrowing OldMidlifeThe BodyThe MindMemory & NostalgiaTime & BrevityRelationshipsMen & WomenActivitiesEating & DrinkingIndoor ActivitiesDisappointment + 11 more
Housewife as PoetBy Sally Van DorenI have scrawled audible lifelines along the edges of the lint trap, dropping the ball of towel fuzz ...LivingMidlifeRelationshipsFamily & AncestorsHome Life
In the Cold KingdomBy Mona Van DuynPoised upside down on its duncecap, a shrunken purple head, True Blueberry, enters its tightening frame...LoveRealistic & ComplicatedSocial CommentariesMoney & EconomicsPopular CultureLivingLife ChoicesMarriage & CompanionshipMidlifeRelationshipsHome LifeActivitiesEating & Drinking + 6 more
PhilosophyBy Stephen DobynsNihilism, but not in a negative sense—such was his thought, what else to call it? Like snow inside a...LivingMidlifeArts & SciencesPhilosophy