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Read A Little Poetry

@readalittlepoem.bsky.social

470 followers 500 following 850 posts

‪Holding poets to the light • A passion project by @andhow.bsky.social‬ • est 2005 • https://readalittlepoetry.com/ • https://ko-fi.com/readalittlepoem • Poet's Field Notes (tdelosreyes.substack.com)

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Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

Follow I.S. Jones to discover more of her work. Read more at isjones.com. You can also purchase her latest book, Bloodmercy, published by American Poetry Review.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

“My curious tale. I want to stand still but find myself moved patch by patch.”

— Vievee Francis, from “Another Antipastoral”

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

Vievee Francis is the author of Blue-Tail Fly (Wayne State University Press, 2006), Horse in the Dark (Northwestern University Press, 2012), and Forest Primeval (Northwestern University Press, 2016).

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

I.S. Jones is the author of Bloodmercy, chosen by Nicole Sealey as the winner of the 2025 APR / Honickman First Book Prize and the chapbook Spells of My Name, selected by Newfound in 2021 for their Emerging Writers Series.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

Lush, tender, unflinching, Vievee Francis is the poet of my heart. So much of her way in the world, her strong command of language, her tender eye towards the subject, how she yearns, has colored so much of own writing. I am because she walked before me. (3/3)

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

When I touched down in the Midwest for the first time, I finally understood what she meant by “the blinding beauty of green”. Sight undone by holiness. A witnessing that transmutes the body from the civil to the animalistic. (2/3)

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

From Itiola:

I do my best to avoid the word “perfect” for its often fickle and slippery nature—a subjectiveness that is susceptible to the whims of the moment. And yet, I have chased after the feeling “Another Antipastoral” has devastated me with for years and years. (1/3)

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Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 8h

Today’s poem is selected by Itiola Jones as part of the 20th anniversary of Read A Little Poetry.

“Another Antipastoral” appeared in Forest Primeval by Vievee Francis, published by TriQuarterly, 2015. Shared here with deep gratitude.

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Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 1d

Read more at tinyghosthands.com. You can also purchase his book, Grapefruit & Snowman, published by KERNPUNKT Press.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 1d

“To which they said then go into the yard and do not grow in the livingroom as your roots may ruin the carpet.”

— Russell Edson, from “The Fall”

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 1d

Called the “godfather of the prose poem in America,” Russell Edson received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His collections of poetry include The Brain Kitchen: Writings and Woodcuts (1965), The Clam Theatre (1973), and more.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 1d

Dalton Day is a kindergarten teacher, and the author of several books, including Grapefruit & Snowman, and Exit, Pursued. He lives in Georgia.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 1d

and what is actual is so powerful, so terrifying, both as a child and as someone who was once one. I admire so much Edson's ability to put to words the feeling we all knew, and perhaps yearn to go back to. (2/2)

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 1d

From Dalton:

Beyond the fact that this is a poem I read and share each year on the first day of fall, this poem captures the heartbreaking magic of childhood in just a few lines. That in-between space of what is possible (1/2)

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 1d

Today’s poem is selected by Dalton Day as part of the 20th anniversary of Read A Little Poetry.

“The Fall” appeared in The Tunnel: Selected Poems of Russell Edson by Russell Edson, published by Oberlin College Press, 1994. Shared here with deep gratitude.

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Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

Follow Sara Abou Rashed to discover more of her work. Read more at saraabourashed.com. Find her writing in the new anthologies: Heaven Looks Like Us and Ask the Night for a Dream.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

“On this land, is what makes life worth living:
on this land is the lady of the land, the mother
of beginnings and endings. She was named Palestine.”

— Mahmoud Darwish, from “On This Land”

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish is the author of over 30 books of poetry and eight books of prose, and earned the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation, the Lenin Peace Prize, and more.

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Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

Sara Abou Rashed is a Palestinian poet, speaker, and creator of the one-woman show, A Map of Myself. Sara’s writing appears in several journals as well as the anthologies Heaven Looks Like Us, and Ask the Night for a Dream: Palestinian Writing from the Diaspora.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

It's among the first poems I've ever read as a child and resonates deeply with me as it gives reasons worthy of staying alive for, including having a homeland. (2/2)

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

From Sara:

This poem is titled "On this Land,'' by Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine's National and most famous poet. Originally written in Arabic but widely translated. (1/2)

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

“On This Land” appeared in the poetry collection State of Siege by Mahmoud Darwish, published in 2002. Shared here with deep gratitude.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 2d

Today’s poem is selected by Sara Abou Rashed as part of the 20th anniversary of Read A Little Poetry.

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Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 3d

Follow Mandy Moe Pwint Tu to discover more of his work. Read more at moepwinttu.com. You can also purchase his latest book, Fablemaker, published by Gaudy Boy, LLC.

Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 3d

“Unremembered as old rain
Dries the sheer libation,
And the little petulant hand
Is an annotation.”

— Edna St. Vincent Millay, from “Passer Mortuus Est”

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