by McKenzie | Nov 9, 2015 | Poem of the Day Series, Reading
THE LITTLE GIRL BY THE FENCE AT SCHOOL Grass that was moving found all shades of brown, moved them along, flowed autumn away galloping southward where summer had gone. And that was the morning someone’s heart stopped and all became still. A girl...
by McKenzie | Nov 8, 2015 | Poem of the Day Series, Reading
CROCUS I wanted to stay in the earth: There, I needed no skin—the dark body was all around me. I had no tongue. Above me, sleep, a heaven of snow. Years, years. Then the split, the blue heart lifted almost out—who was coming to save me? How...
by McKenzie | Nov 7, 2015 | Reading
THE SNOW MAN One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun; and...
by McKenzie | Nov 7, 2015 | Poetry Collections, Reviews
Sometimes I find myself thinking so much about what poetry is or what it can do that I forget to think about how it can make me feel. Perhaps that is the sign of a lesser poetry, a poetry with holes in it: one that goes through the motions, the mechanics, of...
by McKenzie | Nov 7, 2015 | Poem of the Day Series, Reading
IT BLOWS YOU HOLLOW It takes your bones to bed, tongues out the marrow. Says it will meet you halfway, a hotel deep in Oklahoma where you’ll get adjoining rooms and have a couple of nervous breakdowns. It’s a no-show, waylaid. It orders the...