How She Read

Note from the author: students might consider thinking of ways we communicate not in words, like sighs, sounds, shrugs, gestures--that is what the marks in the book communicate--other ways of communicating...maybe they can think of a word or a gesture in their own languages that fills in that space or launches the poem--or maybe it's a breath or silence...

Source: How She Read (Caitlin Press Inc, 2019)

Kim Addonizio

Aquarium

The fish are drifting calmly in their tank

between the green reeds, lit by a white glow

that passes for the sun. Blindly, the blank

glass that holds them in displays their slow

Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—

“Hope” is the thing with feathers —

That perches in the soul —

And sings the tune without the words —

Kim Hyesoon

That feeling of my soul getting yanked

I wonder where my soul hides when I’m sick

My heart feels as if it’s getting beat up

Is it because the restless ocean is clumping up?

My heart beats regardless of the pain

Iman Mersal

CV

A ruthless catalog of sorrows:
years in front of the screen, diplomas before jobs,
and languages—all that torture—now ranged under Languages.
Where are all the wasted days? And the nights

#readpoetry

Chantal Gibson