Wes Lydon
"Message To a Former Friend" - Tony Hoagland

I just wanted to write and say,
in case you are hit tomorrow by a truck

or are swept from the beach by a freak wave;

"Message To a Former Friend" - Tony Hoagland
Wes Lydon
"Mother Talks Back to the Monster" - Carrie ...

Tonight, I dressed my son in astronaut pajamas,
kissed his forehead and tucked him in. 
I turned on his night-light and looked for you

"Mother Talks Back to the Monster" - Carrie Shipers
Wes Lydon
"What I Didn't Know Before" - Ada Limón

was how horses simply give birth to other
horses. Not a baby by any means, not
a creature of liminal spaces, but a four-legged

"What I Didn't Know Before" - Ada Limón
Wes Lydon
"Young Poets" - Nicanor Parra

Write as you will
in whatever style you like
too much blood has run under the bridge

"Young Poets" - Nicanor Parra
Wes Lydon
"the name before the name before mine" - Jay ...

the unknown has hold of me and its grip is strong as honey on the underside of a spoon

the unknown i mean is not the usual one the future the tomorrow of survival

but the past and what happened in the name of the name after mine and in the name of the name before mine

"the name before the name before mine" - Jay Besemer

Jay Besemer