FEATURE
National Poetry Month: HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS by Kelly Forsythe
Historical Documents by Kelly Forsythe I am writing an autobiography of myself as a man. I want to use the word “excavate” here but I’ll use “imagining” instead, as in / you see me imagining deep unconscious feelings of manliness. Doesn’t everyone love tan...
National Poetry Month: HEBREW LESSON: LICHBOSH by Marcela Sulak
Hebrew Lesson: Lichbosh by Marcela Sulak To conquer, occupy, preserve Before bowls and jugs existed there were clay walls around Jericho—its name means fragment, and sometimes, it means moon. How to enter it is crucial. Wise to have spies when you’re...
National Poetry Month: Am I going to get raped in the park where I read my mother’s poem by Anne Marie Rooney
Am I going to get raped in the park where I read my mother's poem by Anne Marie Rooney Is that why they keep the gate locked so I can know not to enter I am every girl on a bicycle and my hair feels good I want to say salty but river beside me oils a coming The...
National Poetry Month: ANATOMY (II) by Rachel Mennies
Anatomy (II) by Rachel Mennies Today I let a man touch me whose hands had been inside the dead. We make a habit of this: touching after anatomy lecture, after convocation with the cadavers, the basement of fumes and rubbery cold muscle. Together we reclaim the twin...
National Poetry Month: [ANNA] by Julie Carr
[Anna] by Julie Carr Finds a bird’s nest in a pile of leaves. Tightly wound scraps of the news. Carries it into the house and sets it on the table. After a while, she goes back out to play. The game she’s playing is called “Anna.” It’s a game in which...
National Poetry Month: MALAMUTE by Jehanne Dubrow
Malamute by Jehanne Dubrow Honduras, 1947 Someone brought winter to the tropics. At first, it slept near the roots of a strangler tree, curled under chairs, licked salt from sweating ankles. It was content. Table scraps fed its belly. Breezes carried the...
National Poetry Month: { } by Rachel Springer
{ } by Rachel Springer { } This is my war face whispering for you to get wet. Dark hair pelts you, pots & pans & pigtails clamoring. Had I a horse, I’d hold you to that. Slab on slab of hearing you call daddy, I say fuck me in that order. You give...
National Poetry Month: ROOM WITH TWO WINDOWS by Sarah V. Schweig
Room with Two Windows by Sarah V. Schweig When he left, I was what was left. When two trees fell, I saw them falling. The noise of the street quiets the mind now the trees and wind are gone. Today I watch a man saw away the dead branch he’s standing on....
National Poetry Month!
For many poets, the start of National Poetry Month signals a time to create new work, and to develop their craft in unexpected directions. For those of us at the Black Warrior Review, the month of April also signals an opportunity to appreciate and re-engage with the...
40th Anniversary Feature: A SUGGESTION FOR DEPARTING
BY AMBER VOGEL The passengers gather. The conductor smokes The last of his cigarette, leans from the door, And flicks the end away. Your steps Quicken. You are clutching your ticket And your magazine. You stop. You wheel Round, panicked by yet another Vagrant...