October 13, 2017 @7pm

Ben Gantcher, Karen Hildebrand, Susan Miller Ben Gantcher is the author of Snow Farmer (CW Books, 2017). His poems have appeared in Tin House, Slate and The Brooklyn Rail, among other journals. Gantcher teaches math and language structures at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lives with his wife, author and educator Melissa […]

Schedule for Fall 2017

Click on a date below for more info about the poets. September 8, 2017 David Eye Chuck Carlise Martha Rhodes     October 13, 2017 Ben Gantcher Karen Hildebrand Susan Miller     November 10, 2017 Heather Derr-Smith James Diaz Jennifer Juneau Annabel Lee     December 8, 2017 Lisa Andrews Adam Giannelli Joseph Legaspi […]

What Rough Beast | Poem for August 7, 2017

David P. Miller Athazagoraphobia I’m a big, big tipper, am I right? The biggest. Take a look at this kisser. Watch the girls fall all over themselves, step and fetch my finnan haddie. Swoon these pearly whites. You read my book? They call it my magnum opus, my secret brain pill. But you wait, I’ll […]

What Rough Beast | Poem for July 31, 2017

David P. Miller David Has Been Personally Selected Does David actually HATE Obama? Does David actually HATE Elizabeth Warren? Does David actually SUPPORT Donald Trump? Does David actually SUPPORT Cruella DeVille? Does David actually WORSHIP Mitch McConnell? Does David LOATHE Jimmy Carter?? Does David VILIFY the Dalai Lama??? Does David ACTUALLY HATE Mother Theresa??? All. […]

What Rough Beast | Poem for July 3, 2017

Peter E. Murphy Watching The Crucible in the Time of Trump at Theatr Newydd, Cardiff First of all, everyone is terrified. Is she going to fly again? I hear she flies. The word “lies” lies inside of flies, inside of families. A clink of good women are shackled together, away from their families because of […]

Na(HIV)PoWriMo ± April 19, 2017

Manya Magnus Jack As a junior in high school in Berkeley, I was asked to share a job at our local flower shop with a friend, after school and on weekends. She did not last long so I took over all the shifts myself. I found in the back workroom of that flower shop respite […]

What Rough Beast | Poem for January 31, 2017

Stephen Gibson Article on Torture I just finished an article which said that when they dragged the victim half-conscious from his prison cell, he begged because he’d already been beaten and starved for days (he knew what was coming—he could tell—and begged); the article described a room slippery with blood, eyeballs, teeth—and the means to […]

What Rough Beast | Poem for January 27, 2017

Samantha Leigh Miller America Cries First he said, “lock her up,” And we cried, “lock her up!” Then he shouted, “drain the swamp,” And we cried, “drain the swamp!” Then he screamed, “build the wall,” And we cried, “build the wall!” America cries. Yes, we have. Look, they said, his face is glass. And we […]

Transition Poem 65 @ Jan. 12, 2017

Laura McCullough And Also Sunflowers —after the election, 2016 Distracting myself, I discover the year 1510, an interesting one, recall the old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. The election turned, and it was only you I wanted to talk to, but you’d changed the way you’d voted about our marriage. My grown […]

Writing from Somewhere Else

A Poetry Squawk By Sarah Wetzel Author of River Electric with Light and Bathsheba Transatlantic  “This must be where it all happens!” my friend quipped, examining the second bedroom of my apartment, the neat desk with several books of poetry stacked on one corner, bookshelves overflowing with books, many of which I’d even read. We […]