...

My heart broke within my chest
and the pieces got stuck between my ribs.

I pulled on a sweater and moved to Wisconsin.

My Fake Anthology

Lisa Eizenga’s Anthology

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Rae Armantrout

Dark Matter/1                                                                                                                          

Music/3

Resounding/4                                                                                                                           

 

Erica Bernheim

The Oversized World/6                                                                                                           

I Love How Your Eyes Close Every Time You Kiss Me/8                                                       

Like a Face/9                                                                                                                          

 

Emma Bolden

At First/11                                                                                                                               

 

Jennifer Boyden

I’d Have Presented a Cup of Water or My Own Small Ax/12                                                  

 

Laynie Browne

Letter II/14                                                                                                                              

Anemone/15                                                                                                                            

Interlude:/16                                                                                                                            

 

Rick Bursky

Cardiology/17                                                                                                                         

 

Brigitte Byrd

 (quixotic cooking)/18                                                                                                              

 (looking back it was easy/19

 

Ashley Capps

Hymn for Two Choirs/20
Reading an Ex-Lover’s First Novel/21
Conventional Red/22

 

Paula Cisewski

 Ghost Fargo/23

Ode to Tethers/25

Hell, MI/26

 

Juliet Cook

Venus Tree/27

 

Brenda Coultas

An Early Alphabet/28

Black Boxes/29

 

Cynthia Cruz

 Twelve in Yellow-Weed at the Edge/30

 Shoot/31

You Will Be Like Your Dreams Tonight II/32

 

Jim Daniels

The Tenured Guy’s Trajectory/33

The Tenured Guy Handles the Evidence/35

The Tenured Guy Calculates Salaries/36

 

Julie Doxsee

On Yesterday’s Statue/37
 
Magnetic Strips/38

Rock Erodes a Lifespan/39

 

Norman Dubie

The Canvas Boat/40

Sasquatch/41

Landmine: Field of Copper Wings/42

 

Carolina Ebeid                                                                                                                      

Havoc Yonder World/43

 

Nancy Eimers

A History of Navigation/44

No Moon/45

In the New Year/47

 

Graham Foust

 Skull/49

 

John Gallaher

The First Chance I Get I’m Out Of Here/50

 

James Galvin

 January Thaw/51

 Promises are for Liars/52

 So Long/53

 

Louise Gluck

All Hallows/54

Epithalamium/55

Descending Figure/56

Beckian Fritz Goldberg

 Beached/58

 

Brent Goodman

To the Student Who Asked You What My Poems Mean

for David Graham/59

 

Martha Greenwald

 Crosswalk/60

 The Story of the Day/61

 Cardigan/62

 

Kimiko Hahn

A Dream of a Pillow/63

 

Tom Healy

A Labor of Moles/64

Alarm/65

The Metaphysics of Being Well-Mannered/66

 

Jay Hopler

 In the Garden/67

Approaching the Tower/68

Green Squall (for Kimberly Johnson)/69

 

Paul Foster Johnson

 R3. War of Maneuver/70

 R5. Marcelled Men of War/71

 R13. Written into the Bestiary/72

 

Laura Kasischke

Riddle/73

 Pharmacy/75

The Key to the Tower/76

 

Jesse Lee Kercheval

Straight Line/78

 

Yusef Komunyakaa

Light on the Subject/79

Back Then/80

Letter to Bob Kaufman/81

 

Susanne Kort

Street/82

Black Painting #2: The Dead/83

Discarded Clothes/84

 

Li-Young Lee

In His Own Shadow/85

Become Becoming/86

Little Ache/88

 

Jon Loomis

Conspiracy Theory/89

 

Louise Mathias

Satine/90

 

Ross Middleton

Family Circus/91

 

Malena Morling

From the Train/92

Everything is True/94

Late at Night/95

 

Lori Anderson Moseman

How Became I an Aircraft Carrier/96

On Ice/97

In the Way a Cow’s Grazing Is/98

Julie Moulds

Late Summer Litany/99

Dog Grows Fish Scales/100

There Was a Soldier, Not a Sparrow, Inside the Golden Cage/101

 

Michael O’Brien

Confetti/103

Ephemera/104

Some of the Days/105

 

 

 

Carrie Oeding

I Have Been In More Uncomfortable Situations Than This/106

Poem in the Shape of a Trumpet/108

‘All My Friends’ Barbecues Need Attending’/109

 

Sharon Olds

When/110

Topography/111

 I Go Back to May 1937/112

 

Dzvinia Orlowsky

First Rain/113

Inherited/114

If I Can Feel the World Tonight/115

 

Martha Rhodes

Our Bedroom Wall/116

Into the Fens/117

Telling Mother about My Troubled Marriage/118

 

Martha Ronk

“Self-regard played across the walls of the room like

shadows”/119

With interstitial vacuities, a network of light/120

 “So they say: ‘This is what happened’; but they do not

say what the person was like to whom it happened.”/121

 

Mary Ann Samyn

Another Word for Small/122

 

Christopher Schmidt

All Tomorrow’s Parties/123

Arcades Palare/124

Making Eyes/125

 

Herbert Scott

My Father’s Fortune/126

That Summer/127

Evening, Milking/128

 

Frederick Seidel

From a High Floor/129

The Hour/130

 
 

Jason Shinder

The Pitch of Childhood/131

Eternity/132

Summer Night/133

 

Jennifer Snyder

Cafes at Night/134

 

Frank Stanford 

The Nocturnal Ships of the Past/136

Linger/137

Sun Go Down/138

 

Larissa Szporluk

 Io Remembers/140

Ghost Continent/141

 Crocodilia/142

 

Brian Teare

 –In the Library of the Fairy Tale,/143

 House in Summer with a Slapped Face in It/144

–Of a Sleeping Man,

 & a Second Man Awake

 (for John Wieners, 1934-2002)/145

 

Chase Twitchell

The Wars/147

Makeshifts/148

Walking Meditation/149

 

Gail Wronsky

A poem for and against sonnets./150

Sunday./151

Friday./152

 

Dean Young

Roving Reporter/153

 

 

 

Online Literary Magazine

I really enjoyed reading poetry on the online magazine of literary arts, 42opus. The poems seemed very musical to me and most ended with the reader feeling enlightened, or quizzical about the world. The poems all seem to be working in a way to challenge the readers thinking and open your mind to exploring new ideas. This is stated in the editorial statement as, “writing that moves and delights our minds and hearts.” On a publishing standpoint, 42opus describes their website as a, “clean, pretty website.” This makes a difference for the reader, I think, almost as much as the types of poems presented. Being able to easily navigate and read a neat website allows the reader to see more work and therefore enjoy more. This is something online magazines should not overlook.

Similarly the online magazine, Diode, creates a clean, neat website that is easy to navigate and read and therefore as a reader I am inclined to read and enjoy it more. I enjoyed Diode because it seemed to value poetry that creates small scenes in great detail. Something I enjoy very much. Like in Silence, a definition by Bob Hicok

This woman who loves me,
who has memorized the birthmark of my face,
who invited my sperm
to become a sea monster in her fathoms,
she never said my name, and I never hers,
like why would a horse call another horse
            horse
when it can lean a neck to its side,
such a thorough alphabet in the rain
that the ground knows exactly
what's being said, and replies
slowly, replies green, with shade

White Lake

White Lake

I take in a deep breath,
And I begin choking with joy.

“I smell White Lake”
I say

I smell Mickey mouse pancakes.
I feel sand
all the way up my ankles
And there are playing cards sticking to
A maple syrup drop left behind
On the table.

My mother replies,
“Sweetie, that is the smell of mildew.”



This is kind of a bitter sweet poem. It’s a childhood memory of spending time at the lake, but it also shows how memory can be distorted.   The speaker uses specific detail to create an atmosphere of happy memories, a beach, a special breakfast children like, card games. But then the words, “choking” and the fact that the mother is smelling mildew gives the feeling that there is more to this memory than the good things the speaker remembers, or chooses to remember about white lake.

Shrug.

Shrug

Dad might be in the other room with the brownies I left on the stove to cool.
He’ll cut the entire pan into four rows and two columns,
eat a quarter of the pan, and be able to claim he only ate two.
I stop baking to find drive through napkins on the counter.

My sister asked him if he saw the commercial
Where the father loses weight for his daughter’s wedding.
She tells him he looks so good and they cry.

He shrugged and said, I don’t watch commercials.



This poem is telling a story about a man who does not seem to know or care that his daughters are concerned with his health. It begins with the first stanza that gives detail about the problem, the second shows the daughters concern, and the third shows the father's indifference. I’m afraid that maybe this poem is being too obvious, so your suggestions are appreciated!  

"Explain in 25 words why you like the poem you chose," he said.

The Well-Tempered Clavicle

I've got to get back to the
lisping lung, the feral staircase,

the malignant gray plank, the
lethal begun. That is to say,

your lips, beautifully pressed
silencers,

a convulsant chest wall.

The plumb line's a pendulum.

Can I explain what I like about this poem in 25 words? Word choice, sounds, absurd images. Yes, I could sum it up in 5.

The Afterlife is a Dry County
Poems by Charmi Keranen
Big Wonderful Press

Cruz Takes Control

NOTES ON THE DISASTER

Tore the plastic tubes from my arms.
I still have the scars and I walked
Right out of that place. I say
If I'm going down, then I'll do
The killing-

This poem is empowering. Throughout this book the poems contain vivid images of pain, abuse, and a lack of control. Then boom! She takes control.

The Glimmering Room
By Cynthia Cruz
Four Way Books