National Poetry Month 2020

Dear Readers,

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual poetry project where participating poets write a poem a day for the month of April in celebration of National Poetry Month. Some may follow prompts, pick a theme/topic, or let the day speak to what piece they write.

Each day in April, we will try to post a new poem from one of our staff members, local poets, and associates as a way of participating in the project. Make sure to check back every day for a new poem.

The goal is 30 poems for the month of April and we take on the challenge!

– Olivia Thomes, Managing Editor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Poetry

Ovotestes
by Jendi Reiter
Spin
by Judith Terzi
The Physician
by David O'Connell
Black Girl Catholic
by Jourdan Nichelle
Say Her Name
by Gary Percesepe
Hints of Not Letting Go
by Denise Bergman
Adaptation to Extremes
by Marilyn McCabe
The Harvesters
by Valerie Duff
and i say yes to the way the grass
by Wendy Drexler
If Bach Kept Bees*
by Vasyl Makhno
Hospice Voices in the Age of Corona
by Eileen Cleary
B Sharp
Blues
by Sean Singer
“Kill Me Again, Or Take Me As I Am”
by Emily Van Duyne
Self-Portrait as a Cattle Trail
by Diane Glancy
Vernal Scrooge
by Paul Hostovsky
Veterans
by Aaron Wallace
Movement of a Germ
by Barbara Siegel Carlson
April, Merciless
by Frances Donovan
Hope Is Not Canceled
by Jennifer Jean
LITTLE MUSHROOM
by Stuart Friebert
ON BECOMING VIRTUAL
by Barbara de la Cuesta
YOU THINK IT’S LOVE, BUT IT’S CANNIBALISM
by Vanesa Pacheco
Moonstruck – m4w (Downtown Boston, MA)
by Olivia Thomes
COVID-19 Order No. 13: An Erasure
by Robbie Gamble

Poetry in translation

Take from my open hands
By Osip Emilievich Mandelstam, 1920
by Dzvinia Orlowsky

Contributors