Mess Hall
By Solmaz SharifYour knives tip down
in the dish rack
of the replica plantation home
Calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets.
By Solmaz SharifYour knives tip down
in the dish rack
of the replica plantation home
By Zein El-AmineSit in their circle.
Don't let your eyes linger
on any object in the room.
By Cathy Linh CheI see my mother at thirteen
in a village so small,
it's never given a name.
By DaMaris B. HillI dream of hounds. Their teeth loose in my veins.
Their howls consume me. They growl and feast.
She whispers not to run. I can't refrain.
By Marc A. Drexlerchildren in
certain neighborhoods
should know better than to
sit by a window
By Noah Arhm ChoiIf I fail my mouth this story plays again.
Back home he yanks mama's mouth
round into screams, burns
By Nancy C. OtterThe soldier who stopped my father's truck
at the Chiapas border crossing in 1983
might have worked for that man
By Sonia SanchezYour limbs buried
in northern muscle carry
their own heartbeat