February 9, 2016
“We All Slaves”: Kanye’s Theory of Power
Back in the days, if slaves had they own money they could buy they own freedom. We all slaves, we slaves to Nike, we slaves to Benz, we slaves to […]
February 8, 2016
Station to Station: On David Bowie and Skateboarding
As has been previously noted, the last account David Bowie felt the need to follow on Twitter was God’s. This, then, seems apt. Since his unexpected death of cancer on […]
February 2, 2016
“And since I’m the one writing it . . .”
After Saturday’s orientation, Monday evening was the first official joint meeting of Writers in Baltimore Schools high school students and Johns Hopkins University undergrads collaborating on the Community-Based Learning course “Poetry & […]
January 31, 2016
Charleston Heavy
I’ve loved Charleston for awhile now. The first time I saw the city’s name was on a baseball cap my dad brought back from Air Force Reserve training, one of […]
January 31, 2016
Crossing That Line
Yesterday afternoon was a day I’d been anticipating for almost a year — the high school students’ orientation for the joint Writers in Baltimore Schools and Johns Hopkins University Writing […]
January 30, 2016
Under the Eye of the Name: On Writing and Insomnia
I’ve had chronic insomnia all my life— I’m going through a bout of it as I write this. When the sleepless nights start to add up, a phantasm filters […]
January 25, 2016
I Wanted to Ruin It for You: On Yael Hedaya’s Housebroken (Part 1)
Do you remember that strangely addictive taste of drugstore lipstick on your teenage lips And how it wouldn’t taste the same if you bit right into it? But […]
January 1, 2016
The Year Twenty Fixteen
When my daughter counts, she recites all the numbers in order, until she reaches “12, 13, 14, Fixteen, 17, 18, 19….” Soon enough, I’m sure she’ll separate fifteen and sixteen […]
December 31, 2015
Old Year/New Year: Poems
Woody Guthrie: “Woody Guthrie’s 1943 “New Years Rulin’s.” Found in one of his journals dated January 1st, 1943.” — woodieguthrie.org * Naomi Shihab Nye: Burning the Old Year Letters swallow […]
December 30, 2015
Bullets for You
“The Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice last month resigned from a previous small-town police job when he was deemed emotionally unstable and unfit for duty, […]
December 28, 2015
From Cop Killers to Killer Cops
The news cycle is quite strange now. One of the hottest topics—black men, and boys, many of them unarmed, shot and killed by police—is certainly old news. I have never […]
December 22, 2015
Children’s Poetry: Four Short Takes
With just a few days until America’s bookstores close their doors and count their pennies, I thought it best to condense my final recommendations for children’s poetry. Here are four […]