Rain Dance
By Rashida James-Saadiyawe scatter
dodge words that rip into flesh
hide from clenched fist
Calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets.
By Rashida James-Saadiyawe scatter
dodge words that rip into flesh
hide from clenched fist
By Patricia Spears JonesAnd I am full of worry I wrote to a friend
Worry, she replied about what—love, money, health?
All of them, I wrote back. It’s autumn, the air is clear
By Gregory PardloUnfinished, the road turns off the fill
from the gulf coast, tracing the bay, to follow
the inland waterway.
By Camille T. DungyPause here at the flower stand-mums
and gladiolas, purple carnations
dark as my heart.
By Jericho BrownNot the palm, not the pear tree
Switch, not the broomstick,
Nor the closet extension
Cord, not his braided belt, but God
By Tara BettsQuiet girl found a voice mama could not quell
inside Nutbush City Limits. The baby
blasted beyond timid Annie Mae into Tina
By Randall HortonThe gavel
The splintered body
The red-neck guards
By Remica L. BinghamI enter to find all the students in uniform
occupying a small room.
By Lita HooperFrederick Lake has been to prison
finished his time
convicted in 1989
By Cornelius EadyA warning one white friend hisses
To the one standing nearest to me
At an Upper West Side newsstand.