MeanwhileBy Richard Siken Driving, dogs barking, how you get used to it. bow you make the new street yours.Trees outside the ...LivingMarriage & CompanionshipMidlifeRelationshipsHome Life
p1the black dykes at 40By R. Erica Doyleletting the words fly like smoke uncurling from our mouths we lie in bed with dykes ten years our junior...LivingMidlifeRelationshipsLGBTQ+Joy & Contentment
p1In Times of the Most Extreme SymbolsBy Corey ZellerWe spend the evening listening to folk songs from the early 2000s. Make a stew. Cut carrots the color...LivingLife ChoicesMidlife
A Bird in BishopswoodBy John TickhillIn a sesone of somere þat souerayne ys of alle, Þat was þe myry monþ of May May May is a “somere” month...NatureAnimalsWeatherLivingMidlifeSorrow & GrievingThe MindActivitiesJobs & WorkingTechniquesAlliteration + 4 more
p1The Last Hummingbird of SummerBy Beth Ann Fennellyreveals itself in retrospect. Unlike the first, whose March arrival bade you gasp, hands clasped, like...NatureAnimalsSocial CommentariesGender & SexualityLivingMidlifeThe BodyTime & BrevityTechniquesImagerySimileGratitude + 5 more
p1Fourth Wall ArpeggioBy A. Van JordanLately, my friends ask me, out of love, have I written about my mother, who suffers under the storm ...LivingGrowing OldHealth & IllnessMidlifeThe MindRelationshipsFamily & AncestorsVerse FormsSestinaStanza FormsMixedTechniquesImageryMetaphor + 7 more
p1Jiāngsū, Early SummerBy Anni LiuHe takes me, his adult child swaddled in foreignness, to the southern provinces. Opaque scenes unfold...LivingMidlifeTime & BrevityRelationshipsFamily & Ancestors
The ApplesBy W. S. Di PieroThe city budget squads have trimmed its hours. “You can’t get in, just go home why don’t you.” I couldn...Social CommentariesCities & Urban LifeLivingMidlifeMetersFree Verse
Menstruation at FortyBy Anne SextonI was thinking of a son. The womb is not a clock nor a bell tolling, but in the eleventh month of its...LivingGrowing OldMidlifeParenthoodMetersFree VerseTechniquesConfessional
What is Life?By John ClareAnd what is Life?—An hour-glass on the run, A Mist retreating from the morning sun, A busy, bustling...LivingDeathGrowing OldMidlifeThe MindActivitiesJobs & WorkingArts & SciencesPhilosophyTechniquesSimile + 4 more
p1All My Friends Are Finding New BeliefsBy Christian WimanAll my friends are finding new beliefs. This one converts to Catholicism and this one to trees. In a...LoveRealistic & ComplicatedSocial CommentariesPopular CultureReligionFaith & DoubtLivingLife ChoicesMidlifeThe MindDoubt & ContemplationRelationshipsFriends & EnemiesAnxiety & InsecurityDisappointmentHumor + 9 more
p1Glosa in Middle AgeBy Kathleen OssipTo have arrived here, weighed down with fistfuls of calendar entries, unsuitably boggle-eyed as if new...LivingLife ChoicesMidlifeThe MindMemory & NostalgiaVerse FormsAnxiety & InsecurityBoredomDisappointmentHumor + 3 more
p1HokkaidoBy Kit FanIt was summer in Hokkaido. The forest stole the wind and I swallowed my footsteps. Nobody came to the...NatureSummerAnimalsTrees & FlowersLivingMidlifeJoy & Contentment
A poem from From a Winter NotebookBy Matvei YankelevichAs winter went on, every morning’s spoon of buckwheat honey resembled more the taste of that isosceles...LoveDesire & PassionRomantic LoveNatureWinterLivingGrowing OldMidlifeThe BodyThe MindMemory & NostalgiaTime & BrevityRelationshipsMen & WomenActivitiesEating & DrinkingIndoor ActivitiesDisappointment + 11 more
Housewife as PoetBy Sally Van DorenI have scrawled audible lifelines along the edges of the lint trap, dropping the ball of towel fuzz ...LivingMidlifeRelationshipsFamily & AncestorsHome Life
In the Cold KingdomBy Mona Van DuynPoised upside down on its duncecap, a shrunken purple head, True Blueberry, enters its tightening frame...LoveRealistic & ComplicatedSocial CommentariesMoney & EconomicsPopular CultureLivingLife ChoicesMarriage & CompanionshipMidlifeRelationshipsHome LifeActivitiesEating & Drinking + 6 more
PhilosophyBy Stephen DobynsNihilism, but not in a negative sense—such was his thought, what else to call it? Like snow inside a...LivingMidlifeArts & SciencesPhilosophy
DeterminationBy Stephen DobynsCabbage—the first word put down with his new pen, a trophy pen, like a trophy wife, not cheap, absurd to use a...LivingLife ChoicesMidlife
Elegy for 39By Paul KillebrewIt was the year we decided not to get divorced. The poem said something like clouds moving quickly across...LoveRealistic & ComplicatedLivingMidlifeParenthoodThe MindMemory & NostalgiaGratitude
Unfinished NovelBy Michael HartnettAh yes - they justify it all, the brats, hungry or asleep and gorged with milk. Each drop's (yes, the...LivingMidlifeParenthood