“they spoke for him (for george floyd)” by Brian Gilmore

they spoke for him (for george floyd)

1. (video)

i do not
doubt
killing.
neck.
knee.
doubt.
breath.
life.
malice.
doubt
i do not.

2. (blood)

the cardiologist made it
plain.
not
drugs
clots.
plain
like
malcolm
fannie
plain
the cardiologist made it.

3. (love)

george was a momma’s boy
said
his
brother,
lover
said
his
lover,
she
said
george was a momma’s boy

4. (george)

not a perfect man, but a man,
george
he
struggled
some
george
he
fell.
rose.
george,
not a perfect man, but a man

5. (us)

a black news channel…
they’re
black
proud
united
they’re
waiting
wanting
demanding
they’re
a black news channel.

6. (race)

defense says george is
brute
strong
savage
dangerous
brute
prone
choked
dead
brute
is george, defense says

7. (george 2)

george floyd is speaking to us today.
them.
professionals.
women.
men.
them.
humanity’s
bouquet.
crying.
them.
today, george floyd is speaking to us.

8. (what they do)

it is not going to work
counselor.
dirty
deeds
transgressions.
counselor.
stop
doing
it
counselor
it isn’t going to work.

9. (justice)

to the jury i yell
ashe’
george
is
human
ashe,
spoken
for,
loved
ashe’,
to the jury i yell

10. (guilty)

hands behind his back,
cuffed.
he
knows.
feeling
cuffed.
feeling
less
than.
cuffed,
hands behind his back.

11. (peace)

i wanted it to go on and on…
justice.
accountability.
public
truth.
justice.
a
beautiful
song,
justice
i want it to go on and on

Brian Gilmore
5/8/2021

________________________

Washington D.C. poet, writer, and law professor, Brian Gilmore, is author of four collections of poetry, including his latest, come see about me, marvin, (Wayne State Press), a 2020 Michigan Notable Books recipient. He has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Progressive Magazine. His 2015 collection, We Didn’t Know Any Gangsters (Cherry Castle Publishing) was an NAACP Image Award nominee and a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award nominee. Gilmore is also a Kimbilio Fellow.

To order come see about me, marvin, go to: WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

To order We Didn’t Know Any Gangsters, go to: CHERRY CASTLE PUBLISHING

“Human Highway” by Kay Fields

Human Highway

Big problems in Knoxville
kids
trafficked
groomed
intersection
kids
I-40
I-75
abused
kids
In Knoxville, big problems

Kay Fields
3/25/21
________________________
The work of award-winning poet and writer, Kay Fields has appeared in Tennessee Magazine, where she won several poetry awards, Verse Virtual, and is to be published in Muddy River Review. Her memoir will be published in late spring of 2021. A resident of Dandridge, Tennessee, she spends her days with her senior Yorkie, Rocky.

“Fossil Fuel Vampire” by Rebecca Spring

Fossil Fuel Vampire

A fossil fuel vampire is biting into Mother Earth’s turned neck.
Vampires
Fangs
Sink
In.
Vampires
Keep
Sucking.
Addicted
Vampires.
Is Mother Earth turned into a neck-biting fossil fuel vampire?

Rebecca Spring
3/9/2020
________________________
Rebecca Joy Spring is a 9^th grader at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the Literary Media and Communications Department. She films and writes in a variety of genres and forms, and she loves doing all art forms for fun. Spring has made several short films that are available for viewing at Rainbow Rebecca Films on YouTube. She tries to use art to speak out about and fight the climate crisis. Additionally, she’s part of the media team at the climate organization Extinction Rebellion DC. 

This poem was generated from celebrated poet Derrick Weston Brown’s intensely inventive creative writing class at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Enduring thanks to Mr. Brown for continuing to teach the Skinny form and nurture young artists as they grow–and add beauty to all our grown-up days.

“Dyslexia and I” by Isley Gold

Dyslexia and I

Dyslexia writes for I
Don’t
say
I’m
slow
Don’t
call
me
Braindead
Don’t
I write for Dyslexia

Isley Gold
3/9/21
________________________
Isley Gold is a writer, filmmaker, and dyslexic advocate whose a freshmen at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Before Ellington, she went to the Lab School of Washington D.C., where she found an appreciation for the written word, despite having a learning difference. Outside of writing, she has been an actor in multiple productions, such as Fame, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night. In her free time, she spins tales of mystery playing Dungeons and Dragons and watching bad action movies with friends.




This poem was generated from celebrated poet Derrick Weston Brown’s intensely inventive creative writing class at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Enduring thanks to Mr. Brown for continuing to teach the Skinny form and nurture young artists as they grow–and add beauty to all our grown-up days.

“Cold” by Maya Ray

Cold

The distant eye is awake
Frigid
Hands
Reach
For
Frigid
Hearts
Warming
His
Frigid
Eye, the distant is awake

Maya ray
3/6/21
________________________
Maya Ray is a Sophomore at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the Literary Media and Communications Department, graduating class of 2023. She enjoys cross examining her classmates in Street Law, fishing at Fletcher’s Boathouse and apple picking to make homemade apple pies. In her spare time, she enjoys watching anime on Zoom with her friends.

This poem was generated from celebrated poet Derrick Weston Brown’s intensely inventive creative writing class at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Enduring thanks to Mr. Brown for continuing to teach the Skinny form and nurture young artists as they grow–and add beauty to all our grown-up days.

“I Can’t Cry” by Jameela Ayoub

I Can’t Cry

I’ve run out of tears to cry
Dry
eyes
leave
me
dry
cries
fill
me
dry.
Of tears to cry, I’ve run out

Jameela Ayoub
3/3/21
________________________
Jameela Ayoub is an aspiring writer and photographer based in the Washington D.C. area. She’s a sophomore at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and is a first year student in the Literary Media and Communications Department. She will be graduating with the class of 2023.

This poem was generated from celebrated poet Derrick Weston Brown’s intensely inventive creative writing class at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Enduring thanks to Mr. Brown for continuing to teach the Skinny form and nurture young artists as they grow–and add beauty to all our grown-up days.

Charles Barrow: The One and Only: A TSPJ Treasure

I just want to press pause for a beat to say how much I thank Brother Charles Barrow for all he does to support The Skinny Poetry Journal, and also, Cherry Castle Publishing. A treasure, he is. – truth

“State of Emergency” by Patricia Hope

State of Emergency

Texans are not prepared for ice, snow covering everything.
Cold
iced
roadways,
lines
cold
enough
to
break,
cold
Texans are snowed, unprepared for ice-covered everything.

Patricia Hope
2/26/21
________________________
The work of award-winning writer Patricia Hope has appeared in Voices On the Wind, The Avocet, Weekly Avocet, Artemis Journal, Tiny Seed, Liquid Imagination, American Diversity Report, Maypop, Plum Tree Tavern, Muscadine Lines, and many newspapers and anthologies. Born and raised in Appalachia, she now lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

“Ancient Echoes, Present Pain” by Nancy Davis

Ancient Echoes, Present Pain

Kingdom divided, feet of clay, signs of the times…
Human
powers,
Iron
Strong.
Human
feet,
fragile
clay.
Human
signs of the Kingdom, divided times, feet of clay.

Nancy Davis
1/31/21
________________________

“January 6, 2021: A Skinny” by Martha Deed

January 6, 2021: A Skinny

Supremacists smash Congress with flags and spears to stop the count
killing
democracy
on
TV
killing
their
own
Destroyers
killing ‒
Congress stops Supremacists smashing with flags and spears to count

Martha Deed
1/21/21
________________________
Martha Deed has published seven books, including mixed media and two poetry collections: Under the Rock (2019) and Climate Change (2014), both with FootHills Publishing, and six chapbooks. Her poems have been included in dozens of anthologies and dozens of journals. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

TSPJ CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: “Poems to Document the January 6, 2021 Trump-Led White Supremacist Insurrection / Violent Attack at the U.S. Capitol.”

THE SKINNY POETRY JOURNAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:” Poems to Document the January 6, 2021 Trump-Led White Supremacist Insurrection / Violent Attack at the U.S. Capitol.”

Tell the truth. Make it poetry. Make it plain. – TSPJ Editors

Rules of the Skinny Poetry form: A Skinny is a short poem form, developed by Truth Thomas, that consists of eleven lines. The first and eleventh lines can be any length (although shorter lines are favored). The eleventh and last line must be repeated using the same words from the first and opening line (however, they can be rearranged). The second, sixth, and tenth lines must be identical. All the lines in this form, except for the first and last lines, must be comprised of ONLY one word.

SUBMISSION BRIDGE: TheSkinnyPoetryJournal@gmail.com

Continue to Register, Plan, and Vote in the interest of freedom and justice for all Americans.

“Winter’s End” by Tyrean Martinson

Winter’s End

Arrows of geese soar across the sky overhead
breaking
winter’s
sovereign
stillness
breaking
fog’s
quiet
embrace
breaking
the sky, arrows of geese soar overhead–crossing

Tyrean Martinson
12/16/2020
________________________
Tyrean Martinson: Author, Teacher, Believer is the author of author of: Liftoff: Rayatana Series, Book 1; The Champion Trilogy; Flicker: A Collection of Short Stories and Poetry; Ashes Burn; A Pocket-Sized Jumble of 500+Writing Prompts; Dynamic Writing Curriculum Books; and over 200 short works including poems, short stories, and non-fiction articles. Martinson is editor of: Walking with Jesus: Stories from One Hope Church and teaches at: Words Take Flight – https://tyreanswritingspot.blogspot.com/

“Unrequited” by Isabelle Fortaleza-Tan

Unrequited

he consumes another bottle
unrequited
fixation
sour
olfaction
unrequited
shards
viscous
red
unrequited
another bottle consumes he

Isabelle Fortaleza-Tan
12/2/2020
________________________
Isabelle Fortaleza-Tan is a high school sophomore at an international school in South Korea. She enjoys reading movie synopses on Wikipedia, eating tzatziki, and walking her Pomeranian.

The Poetry of Amara Coburn

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

The Poetry of Alex Pierre-Louis

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

The Poetry of Josh Miller

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Repenting for what you did to me” by Logan Block

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Dying in America” by Madeline Dohogne

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“City Riots” by Carson Neigum

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Fall” by Ella Evanson

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Pandemic” by McKenna Scharnek

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“canyouhearme” by Olivia Boray

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Elegy for a Young Queer Writer” by Michelle M. Tokarczyk

Elegy for a Young Queer Writer

(For Mia and Anna) 

Rana Zoe, I never knew you—East New Yorker
30
writer
teacher
Afrolatina
30
Afrovictim
COVID
age
30
Rana Zoe. You, East New York—I never knew.

He said, “She had a panic attack.”
Denied
testing
twice.
Symptoms
denied.
Finally–
breathless–
hospitalization.
Denial.
He said, “She had a panic attack”?

They fight for Rana Zoe.
Connect
ventilator.
Contact
media.
Connect
race
gender
$$$$$$.
Connect
for Rana Zoe. They fight.

Such hope when she opened her eyes.
Cried.
Shed
weeks’
unconsciousness.
Cried—
students
stories
abandoned.
Cried.
Such hope, when she opened her eyes.

Rana Zoe died of COVID-19
complications.
Wrong
zip
code.
Complications.
Black
woman’s
body.
Complications
of COVID 19… Rana Zoe died.

Michelle M. Tokarczyk
6/04/2020

________________________

Rana Zoe Mungin, who had been clinging to life in the hospital for more than a month, died on Monday afternoon, April 27, 2020, after succumbing to COVID-19. She was a beloved 30-year-old middle school social studies teacher from Brooklyn who was twice turned away for testing before eventually being diagnosed with the virus. Rana Zoe…Say her name.

This poem, written by Michelle M. Tokarczyk, and shared with the world by The Skinny Poetry Journal, is dedicated to the Mungin family with unreserved love. Tokarczyk was born in the Bronx, New York City and lived there until she was nine years old, when her family moved to the more suburban Queens. She attended Herbert Lehman College — back in the Bronx — and received her doctorate in English from SUNY Stony Brook. Tokarczyk is a former professor of English at Goucher College. An avowed city dweller, she is the author of Bronx Migrations, a breakthrough collection of poetry on Cherry Castle Publishing.

 

Photo by Paul Groncki © 2020

“Winter Creeper” by Clayton Adam Clark

Winter Creeper

To the chain-link fence separating me and my neighbor,
vines
grow
vines
and,
vining,
transfigure
into
stalks
vined
inseparable, chained to the fence linking my neighbor and me.

Clayton Adam Clark
11/09/2020
________________________

Clayton Adam Clark lives in St. Louis, his hometown, where he works as a public health researcher and mental health counselor, and also volunteers for River Styx magazine. His debut poetry collection, A Finitude of Skin, won the Moon City Poetry Award and was published by Moon City Press in 2018. His poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Daily, Shenandoah, Salamander and elsewhere. He earned the MFA in poetry at Ohio State University and recently completed a master’s in clinical mental health counseling at University of Missouri–St. Louis.

“Here” by Kenna Koller

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Climbing” by Sidney Heberlein

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Pandemic” by Sarah Larson

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“The End” by Maile Beck

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

A Skinny by Lucy Rislov

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“COVID-19” by Tallen Van Lare

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Twin Towers” by Ben Kaczmarek

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

A Skinny by Gianna Konen

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Today’s Struggles” by Alena Lippold

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

A Skinny by Ethan Baumgartner

Many thanks to poet and educator, Ms. Elizabeth Jorgensen, for sharing the Skinny form with her noble Arrowhead Union High School student authors. – TSPJ *Click to expand the image.*

“Playing Through Strength” by Angela H. Dale

Playing Through Strength

for virtually forever now my neighbors and I have played
bridge

kitchen
table
no-score

bridge

slam
response
forcing

bridge
played virtually, and now I have my neighbors for forever

the computer keeps score
deal

count
your
winners

deal

we
they
vulnerable

deal
the computer keeps score

pass, pass, pass, I say
notrump

unbalanced
dummy
exposed

notrump

finesse
the
knave

notrump
I say, pass, pass, pass

faces in little boxes we
laugh

double
showing
support

laugh

aces
and
spaces

laugh
faces in little boxes, we

Angela H. Dale
4/02/2020

Angela H. Dale is a poet and picture book author who lives in Ellicott City, Maryland. Her writing has appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Her Mind and in many other notable journals. Her picture book debut is slated for release in Fall 2022.

“White Girl” by Jane Edna Mohler

This is the first poem TSPJ has published while in the crosshairs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Arguably, its power is in its lines of artful honesty. The novel Coronavirus will pass. However, the pathogen of racial and cultural ignorance that keeps us from appreciating the wonderful value of all people will continue to rage. Indeed, it will continue to decimate the world if we do not attempt to mitigate it.

In the context of race, this is true white to black and sometimes black to white and, sadly, all too often, every color to every “otherized” assembly of souls. All of us need to cultivate a caring knowledge of what is beautiful about each of us–wherever humanity stands. To that end, I celebrate this courageous writer who offers, in the spirit of love, this genuine, warm, cultural self-portrait.

Truth Thomas
TSPJ Editor-in-Chief
_________________

White Girl

You do not know
me
tailgate
bologna
sandwiches
me
knobby
knee
swings
me
Know you do not

Jane Edna Mohler
3/7/2020

Jane Edna Mohler is a poet and counselor in the Philly suburbs. She is the author of Broken Umbrellas (Kelsay Books, 2019). Her work has appeared in Schuykill Valley Journal, U.S. 1 Worksheets, River Heron Review, and The Boston Globe. Mohler won the 2016 Main Street Voices Poetry Competition and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. She is an avid newcomer to Skinny Poetry.

The Prophetic Poetry of Barbara Turney Wieland – A 2020 Reboot of “2017”

Love this shot. Love the work of this gifted poet–
Barbara Turney Wieland.

Reposting this poem of hers–“2017” that seems
prophetic now, given

all that has transpired in America since Donald
Trump entered White House doors. – t

~~~

2017

starts as a shit storm
warning
muted
orange
warning
voted
fear-monger
rage
warning
as a shit storm starts

2/9/2017

Barbara Turney Wieland takes time for green tea steeped in a teapot, enjoys a bit of 100% dark chocolate and putting pen or paint to paper to see what comes out. Ever in wonder, she is an Aussie living in Switzerland, longing for sun, atm.

~~~

To order your copy of The Skinny Poetry Anthology
where more of Wieland’s

sterling work appears, simply go to Cherry Castle Publishing’s
online bookstore today.

 

 

“How to Write a Skinny” by Angela H. Dale

How to Write a Skinny

I
start with your end
lines
nine
inner
skin
lines
replete
with
repeat
lines
end with your start

II
bruisable fruit
distill
spill
your
veins
distill
fog
rivers
rain
distill
bruisable fruit

III
now step off the
cliff
sheer
no-fear
word
cliff
catching
your
breath
cliff
step off the now

Angela H. Dale
3/4/2020

***

Angela H. Dale is a poet and picture book author who lives in Ellicott City, Maryland. Her writing has appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Her Mind and in many other notable journals. Her picture book debut is slated for release in Fall 2022. 

 

“State Head Case” by Chad Parenteau

State Head Case

In union, me
put
here
with
you
put
together
unglued
I
put
me in union.

America
by
God
not
used
by
anyone
else
except
by
America.

America, no more limits,
have
won’t
cater
to
have
nots
for
I
have
no more limits, America.

Up in space
force
less
stamps,
welfare
force
poor
send
in
force
up in space.

Privates sacred,
your
healthcare
and
also
your
schools
hold
onto
your
sacred privates.

Into space, each child
throwing
their
hat
in
throwing
in
with
us
throwing
each child, into space.

Wall and wall
and
more
miles
taller
and
even
more
powerful
and
wall and wall.

Criminal aliens!
we
make
wall
make
tall
we
colonize
Mars,
we
criminal aliens!

At last standing, our
Prayer
Punished.
Guns,
Glory,
Prayer,
Punished.
Send
Thought
prayer
at our last standing!

Chad Parenteau
2/18/2020

Chad Parenteau is the author of Patron Emeritus, released in 2013 by FootHills Publishing. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Tell-Tale Inklings, Queen Mob’s Tea House, What Rough Beast, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Ibbetson Street, Molecule and Résonance. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine. He has hosted the long-running Stone Soup Poetry series in Boston since 2005. His second full-length collection, The Collapsed Bookshelf, is forthcoming.

The Ski NNY [Poetry Anthology] Book Review by Rosetta Codling, Ph.D.

The Skinny Poetry Anthology Edited by Truth Thomas
Review by Rosetta Codling, Ph.D.

The Ski NNY (2019) is the latest issue from Cherry Castle Publishing. It is, by far, the most lyrically aesthetic from the house of Cherry Castle. Truth Thomas is the creator of the Skinny genre. It is, perhaps, an urban haiku, framed in eleven volcanic lines which surge forth. The eleventh line and the last line must be repeated using the same words from the first and opening line. The composer, Truth Thomas, does lend liberty to rearrangement. But the second, sixth, and tenth lines must be identical. Thomas, also, stresses that: “All the lines in his form, except for the first and last lines, must be composed of a single word.”

Does this all sound daunting? Yes. Is it difficult to achieve? Yes. However, the subjects of these harmonious creations are the more tedious to bear witness to. Yet, the poets in this collection do so fearlessly.

“the glint of gas oven or America’s Concentration Camps” (with acknowledgment to “who” by Sylvia Plath) is the opening ‘sonata poem’ of this collection. This poem is disarming and starkly real. Debasis Mukhopadhyay is a poet true to his mentor Sylvia Plath. The words drip and drape across the page conveying the erosion of the human spirit. In short, terse, verse, America is indicted for crimes against humanity on a single page of history.

“Jail Cell Diaries” is an entry in this collection that invades the soul in variation mode. This poem is a chronicle of 21 days of unjust incarceration. The varied repetition of words, in each stanza, are branded upon the page for the reader. “Freely…free…delirium…cry…sleep…dropped…guiltocent…dropped” are the words which descend upon the reader, slowly. Jen Schneider, the poet, paints an image that lingers long after the cell doors…open and close, again.

But, this collection is not without wit. Pam Desloges’ “Skinny Skinny” reminds the reader what lies beneath the meter and the meaning of a poem. She entreats us to explore the “nouns” and “bony verbs” absorbed in a text. She uses food imagery to aid in our envisioning of “low-carb adjectives” that are consumed in sectional, lean forms.

This collection is a whole. This collection is in harmony. This collection stands alone. Thank you, Truth Thomas, for delivering truths in many lyrical tones.

———————–

Rosetta Codling is a freelance literary critic. She has written reviews for the Ama Books, the Manhattan Book Review, the San Francisco Book Review, the Journal of African Literature, Autres Modernites, and Examiner.com. She has obtained scholarships and fellowships from Queens College (NYC), Teachers College/Columbia University (NYC), and the Open University (UK). She retired (in 2006) as a secondary school teacher and Adjunct Professor of English for over 30 years in New York. However, she attends global conferences and continues to write professionally. In addition, she now is an Adjunct Associate Professor of English at Herzing University in Atlanta, Georgia.

———————–

(Shaggy Flores, Nuyorican Poet/Scholar)

Order your copy of The Skinny Poetry Anthology from Cherry Castle Publishing today. 

The Poetry of Thomas Locicero in The Skinny Poetry Anthology: Bold, Magnetic, Original

Thomas Locicero’s poetry sings. It has a voice as grand as the New York Island.  His poem, “The Skinny on Italian Lovers,” is a cultural ode both of splendid originality and bold ingenuity. Without question, his work shines in craft and endearing uniqueness–and for that, we should all be grateful. Order your copy of The Skinny Poetry Anthology today, TO BE buoyed by Locicero’s work @ https://tinyurl.com/rqvf892

Thomas Locicero’s poems have appeared in The Skinny Poetry Journal, Roanoke Review, Boston Literary Magazine, Long Island Quarterly, The Ghazal Page, Birmingham Arts Journal, Poetry Pacific, Antarctica Journal, and Bindweed Magazine, among other journals. Originally from East Islip, NY, he resides with his wife, Lil, and sons, Sam and Ben, in Broken Arrow, OK.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on “The Three Evils of Society”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on “The Three Evils of Society”: War, Racism and Poverty.

The poetry of Tara Betts–a beautiful brilliance in The Skinny Poetry Journal

Tara Betts is a poet’s poet, to be sure. She is a deep dish of literary excellence–and perhaps, one of the reasons that the wind blows so hard in Chicago is because Betts is stirring good things up with her words.  TO BE inspired by her work in The Skinny Poetry Anthology, go to https://tinyurl.com/rqvf892

Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit and Arc & Hue. She’s a co-editor of The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives about Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century and editor of the critical edition of Philippa Duke Schuyler’s memoir Adventures in Black and White. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.  Betts received her B.A. in Communication at Loyola University, received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New England College. She received her Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing from Binghamton University.

The Wisdom Rich Poetry of Changming Yuan in TSPA

Great depth and craft abide in the poetry of Changming Yuan. It is an honor to read his pieces, rich with layers of wisdom, capable of warming souls in winter frost.  TO BE stirred by his work in The Skinny Poetry Anthology, go to https://tinyurl.com/rqvf892

Changming Yuan published monograph translations, before leaving China. Currently, Yuan lives in Vancouver, where he edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan. His credits include: ten Pushcart nominations, the 2018 Naji Naaman’s Literary Prize, Best of the Best Canadian Poetry and Best New Poems Online.

“rivers to run” and “Wall” by Debasis Mukhopadhyay

rivers to run

white lyrics spilling out, rivers to run
heads
crowing
old
swastika
heads
scraping
cleansing
bludgeoning
heads
spilling out white rivers, lyrics to run

***

Wall

nothing hangs on the Wall
each
drop
of
skulls
each
drop
of
history
each
wall hangs on the Nothing

Debasis Mukhopadhyay

 

“mass incarceration (an extended skinny)” by Brian Gilmore

mass incarceration (an extended skinny)

1
our world has always been
jail.
work.
home.
travels.
jail.
deny
access.
exclude.
jail
has always been our world.

2.
these separate lives.
us
and
them.
mostly
us.
over
here.
hating
us.
separate these lives.

3.
this design of wickedness.
see
it
everyone.
look.
see.
there.
here.
multitudes
see
this design of wickedness.

4.
must we continue to suffer?
this?
we
cannot
believe
this.
who
would
allow
this
to continue. we must suffer?

5.
even in the schools we are
prisoners.
our
essence
unmentioned.
prisoners.
wondering
of
us.
prisoners
we are, even in the schools.

6.
got jail bars on all the houses.
fear
rules
the
streets.
fear
erodes
our
spaces.
fear
got jail bars on all the houses.

7.
you cannot cross
redlines.
tracks.
walls.
borders.
redlines.
suffocating
are
these
redlines
you cannot cross.

8.
we became at last.
free.
at
least
legally.
free
like
dogs
dashing.
free
we became at last

9.
so new prisons were built.
necessary
evils
they
say.
necessary
like
green
hair.
necessary
so new prisons were built.

10.
finally released from them jails.
boys
are
now
men.
boys
of
angry
time.
boys
finally released from them jails.

             11. (for betts)
the new jim crow.
bastards
of
the
reagan,
bastards
of
the
clinton,
bastards
of the new jim crow.

12.
man must mean something to
rise.
build.
illuminate.
dazzle.
rise
magically
from
destruction.
rise
man. mean something to someone.

13.
freedom is a deeper memory.
stories
of
maroons.
revolts.
stories
unspoken
like
family
stories.
deeper freedom is a memory.

14.
makes me want to go like norman bates:
psychotic.
adore
peace.
psychotic
when
peace
eludes.
psychotic
like normal bates, make me want to go.

15.
we can all get along
rodney
no
one
heard
rodney.
no
one
respects
rodney
can we all get along?

16.
overcoming is the persistent of continua.
aluta.
forward
like
always.
aluta
keep
on
pushing.
aluta
continua is the persistent of overcoming.

Brian Gilmore
11/12/2016

flint, michigan ‘skinny’ by Brian Gilmore

flint, michigan ‘skinny’

dirty water is cash.
trading
life
for
death.
trading
truth
for
lies.
trading
water is dirty cash.

Brian Gilmore
9/10/2016