Poetic Medicine

By Jose Olivarez Migration is derived from the word “migrate,” which is a verb defined by Merriam-Webster as “to move from one country, pl...

to love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you’ve held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,...

By Sherman Alexie So, now, when you touch me my skin, will you think of Sand Creek, Wounded Knee? And what will you remember when you...

I want to snarl “do you still breathe?” Or have you decided you are tired of doing it, have found other less boring ways to spend your time...

By Rafael Campo Arriving late, my clinic having run past 6 again, I realize I don’t have cancer, don’t have HIV, like them, these stude...

By Jane Kenyon There’s just no accounting for happiness, or the way it turns up like a prodigal who comes back to the dust at your feet ...

By Dolly Parton The hills were alive with wildflowers And I was as wild, even wilder than they For at least I could run, they just died ...

By Anita Jeffries  or i swear i’m gonna burn this motherfucker down. doctor don’t think i’ll do it. he say  real girls like boys....

By Roger Robinson  And if I speak of Paradise, then I’m speaking of my grandmother who told me to carry it always on my person, conceal...

By Leonard Cohen I've heard there was a secret chord That David played and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for mus...

By Joy Harjo Remember the sky that you were born under, know each of the star's stories. Remember the moon, know who she is. I met h...

By Julie Silver Do not wish me an easy fast. Let my fast be difficult Let me remember the hungry people of the world who have no choice...

By Richard Blanco O say, can you see us by the dawn of our ancestors’ light still breathing through the cities we forged from the wind of ...

By Gary Beck  I once dreamed of a land where all were free with equal opportunity. Grade school cured me of that. As I grew up ...

By Billy Collins Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night. A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze, And when I saw the silve...

By Philip Levine We stand in the rain in a long line waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work. You know what work is--if you're old ...

One boy on the horizon. A boy is a mountain. Mother waiting for the moment when his face comes into sight. He's dubious about so muc...

By Irwin Keller I am a disloyal Jew.   I am not loyal to a political party.   Nor will I be loyal to dictators and mad kings.   I am not l...

By Ntozake Shange my grandpa waz a doughboy from carolina the other a garveyite from lakewood i got talked to abt the race & achie...

By Amiri Baraka They say its some terrorist, some barbaric A Rab, in Afghanistan It wasn't our American terrorists It wasn't ...