Today we will be looking at the poem "Parole" by David Winter in our new anthology "It's animal but merciful". 13 couplets make up a haunting and chilling poem about "receiving" freedom from the higher-ups. There aren't any definable facts in this poem that gear towards the political but it's whats not said that really gears this poem into overdrive. Freedom in your heart is just as important as freedom from jail or other vices. Winter refers to freedom as "a naked space, unwalled, unnamed, stripped of air". Oh freedom has never sent such a shiver through my spine as this poem does.
Great Interview with Great Weather for Media Contributor Hala Alyan
Thomas Fucaloro catches up with Hala Alyan.
Read Morespiders, seagulls, nipples and peyote, oh my
So the second poem in our anthology is by Catfish McDaris called "Never Take Peyote to Work". So right off the bat the title is a poem in and of itself which is great but then Catfish goes into an abstract stance by not using abstract images like spiders and seagulls and nipples but the tone and arrangement of this poem really adds this odd yet playful/dry tone. There is a dryness to the voice which makes the poem wet with imagery, "The spider bummed a cigarette from an Asian lady with strawberry nipples......." Need we say more?
Confounding Assumptions: An Interview with Lynette Reini-Grandell
It's Animal but Merciful contributor Lynette Reini-Grandell chats with George Wallace.
Read MoreAn Elegy for Brant
George Wallace remembers Brant Lyon.
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