My chapbook "Broken: Do Not Use" is now available through @MainStreetRag Thought I'd share a blurb. mainstreetragbookstore.com/p…

Hala Alyan 💙

Tap the link below to read the full poem in SWWIM Every Day. swwim.org/swwimeveryday/2026… .

From “Spring Mourning: after the plane crash” by Sheree La Puma @Shereewrites #SWWIMEveryDay #SWWIMWithUs #Poetry #Poem #WomenPoets #Ciswomen #TransWomen #Nonbinary #Intersex #GenderExpansive #Inclusive #SpringMourningaftertheplanecrash #ShereeLaPuma #TuesdayPoem #TBT

We at OBR are absolutely thrilled to share our gorgeous summer 2026 issue with you! orangeblossomreview.org/ Many thanks to our wonderful contributors for making Issue 16 SING! Celebrate! Read! Share! #poetry #fiction #CNF #art #LiteraryMagazine #LitMag #LitMagLove

Congratulations to the New York Knickerbockers!!! Subs are open🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀

I was introduced to Carolyn Forche when I was around 18. I was just starting to understand politics in a larger way, on the world stage. Forche wrote about a difficult time in the world, and made poetry about it.

I'm 82, I'm going to die. We die because we are born. The only things that matter in life are food and love, in that order, and also our little dog Ruby. I truly believe this, and for me, the basis of art is love. I love life. — David Hockney, letter to Ruth Mackenzie

I think about this every day. In the Netherlands, if a person dies alone, without any family or friends as mourners, a poet will be sent to write a poem and read it at the burial service. It's called the Lonely Funeral Project, and it's just humans being good humans.

Mark Strand provides us with this perfect favorite poem for the long days of summer

Today, Elon Musk, a trillionaire, pays the same amount into Social Security as someone making $184,500. If we end that absurdity and lift the cap on taxable income, we can make Social Security solvent for 75 years and expand benefits by $2,400. My Social Security bill does that.

Get those final edits done! 📢 Both general & contest submissions will be closing July 1. Submit your poetry, fiction, nonfiction on health, illness, & healing. This year's contest judges are the remarkable Natalie Diaz, Daniel Mason, & Meghan O'Rourke. blreview.org/submit/

Agha Shahid Ali ♥️

Yesterday’s Social Security Trustees Report confirmed that millions of retirees are facing a twenty to twenty-five percent cut in benefits which can throw them into poverty and put a greater strain on their families. Congress must step up now to protect Social Security before it’s too late. It’s only going to cost more and be more difficult to solve the longer we wait.

RT @Acosta: Breaking: Kennedy Center staff is now being ordered to remove Trump’s name from the building. The removal of his name could hap…

BIG NEWS: HFR can now pay our print contributors starting with our next issue! We've been working toward this goal for a long time, so celebrate with us & submit! Thank you for trusting us with your art throughout the years❣️ Subs for Issue 79 will open June 15-July 15, 2026

On Death, Anne Sexton

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To the absent, the dead, the estranged: I am Mother | Burningword Literary Journal share.google/FnktpY0HKuHmYvm… 🥹

If you are debating whether to get your kids the chicken pox vaccine, I would like to tell you a story. When I was 5 I got chicken pox. No big deal. I was sick for a couple of days and then went on with my life. But what I didn’t know as a 5 year old kid was I had been entered into the world’s shittiest lottery. 30 years later, my number came up. If you don’t know about shingles, it is a condition that causes a horrible blistery rash and fiery, stabbing nerve pain. Most people get theirs on their torso. If you are unlucky you might get it on your face. If you are EXTREMELY unlucky like I am, you can get it on your genitals. So there I was (on my goddamn birthday) at the first of two consecutive ER visits, crying in pain when I was diagnosed with shingles. I was given antiviral medication and each day a shot of fentanyl. That’s right, fentanyl. The pain was so egregious they gave me the same pain reliever they gave my stepfather after OPEN HEART Surgery! I CANNOT overstate the excruciating agony I was in. I was given a prescription for Vicodin. I spent the next 7 days curled into a fetal ball on my mother’s couch. I did not eat and I barely drank because otherwise I would have to use the bathroom. Let’s say, that was something I would do anything to avoid. 7 days of absolute, unrelenting misery. I am telling you this story because if you can spare your children from being entered into the shingles lottery, you really should. The chicken pox vaccine prevents more than just chicken pox. Chicken pox is not a problem. Shingles most definitely is.