Michael Shay's Hummingbirdminds

This poem grabbed my attention because it captures the moment, as good poetry does. It was posted on Facebook by friend and one-time writing...

I look to poetry to ease the pain I feel at the ransacking of my country's democratic principles -- and the destruction of our White Hou...

Mile High Muffins Muffix mix, two eggs, two-thirds cup water and canola oil, mix well and add blueberries from a can. May need to add more...

Poetry books arrived this week. The first was “In the Soup,” the second book of poetry by John Calderazzo. John lives in the foothills outs...

How did the Dominican sisters think I could understand an Emily Dickinson poem, "I could not stop for death?" Sister Miriam Cath...

I salute the turkey oak tree in my backyard. It's a tough little oak. I was looking out the sliding glass door a few weeks ago and saw...

A. Friend (not a real name) told me that she and her husband are traveling to Washington, D.C., this week to see the National Museum of Afri...

Did you ever wake up with a nagging cough and wonder “Is this the day I get tuberculosis?” Not bloody likely if you live in England or Germa...

The title poem of Eavan Boland's collection "The Lost Land" always moves me. It begins as a confessional with "I have two...

The first anthology of The Nomad literary magazine landed in my mailbox yesterday. Unassuming cover with lots of goodies inside. Last summer...

The fog comes/ on little cat feet Thought of this Carl Sandburg poem as I sat watching the ocean as fog crept in. Cats weren't on my min...

August Wind from the South   The setting sun turns the sky red the west wind Pushes smoke from fires in Oregon and California. Red h...

Lone Hollyhock My version: Only one stalk this year. Hollyhock rises among the bachelor buttons and coreopsis. Elbows its way up, beefy ...

Crash Grief clouded my sight and I rear-ended the van bearing biopsies Bound for the cancer lab, one of them snipped From my wife. T...

The Letter is in the Wind I could dry up and blow away before A letter arrives I drag a lawn chair to a breadbox of a mailbox The ki...

This is just to say… At night, when I clean the Botanic Gardens Conservatory, I unlock the door to the tropical wing, sneak in with my s...

All Saints Day, the day after Halloween, the day the nuns set us free from Catholic school only to corral us later in church for mass of...

A eulogy for a friend from a friend:  Books, books, books. Dick Lechman had thousands of books at one time at his Old Grandfather Books in...

On Philip Levine's birthday, a sad poem about two doomed poets from the Poetry Foundation web site. It's beautiful, really. I'll...

I am a sitter One who sits I sit all the time now My broken back. Was a time when you Couldn't get me to stay still  Could not get me to...