The American Journal Of Poetry

12/12/2025

If you're sitting in a circle of fellow MFA worksh*tters today, don't let 'em smear their grimy fingerprints all over your drafts. Or kiss your ass 'cuz that's what everybody else does for everybody else. Losers who can only think about publishing valueless book after valueless book, ad nauseum. That does NOT mean remain "frozen" to your work. Be teachable; read on your own, you can teach yourself without the peanut gallery. This is the very evil "seed" of the homogenous sound of contemporary poetry. Don't look at your professor as some kind of false god. Maybe the only reason they're getting published is because of editors who are cronies or former classmates in the same kind of jail you find yourself in. Trust me. I know. I read their work for over 25 years. Have very, very healthy boundaries for yourself. Respect yourself and your HP-given gifts. Discipline. Discipline. Discipline. And write ONLY when absolutely necessary.--AND! Order yourself (writer or not) a used copy of MELODY BEATTIE's "CODEPENDENT NO MORE" and get yourself a "Get Out of Jail For Free" Card for nickels.

12/12/2025

So, here's the 2 Cardinal rules for poets as far as I can see: 1.) Be as open and honest and forthcoming in our writing so our readers might relate. 2.) Lie our ass off at every opportunity so our readers will definitely be able to relate. Note: Google, 'poetic license'.

12/12/2025

Since I got real old, real fast...closer to 80 than 70--I was thinking about downsizing. But then I thought, Naw!, remodel! Voila! I'm even thinking about finishing off a playroom for my grandchildren in the crawl space if I can save up enough by next summer!

12/12/2025

Speaking only pour moi, I'm sure grateful they didn't print my GPA on my college diploma. So what! Hell, I was the first person in my whole family to ever graduate H.S.---It wasn't they weren't smart, they were brilliant people. They were just poor and couldn't remain in school because they had to go to work to help support their family around them. G-d, I love poor people!

12/12/2025

For the past 4 years I haven't written a single poem. I was in a condition of moderate senile dementia. I stopped even trying to solve the puzzles the doctors gave me. It's made me very insecure about meeting people in public. 'Within a moment or so of speaking, I would completely lose my train of thought. I felt about an inch tall. At the "7-11" when I made a cash purchase I'd have to pull a mess of coins out of my pocket and ask the clerk to pull the correct amount from the palm of my hand; I'd have stood there 20 min. and never figured it out on my own. But, it is a humility boost if nothing else. I know about the prisons of alcoholism and bi-polar disorder. And I found myself stuck in another one, getting progressively worse. If you or someone you love is suffering--maybe this could help. My doctor had me on Aricept then started me up on Memantine. Things started getting better; in a month he doubled up on the Memantine dosage. All my friends say I'm a walking miracle. My clarity is bright and resilient. I can recite entire poems I wrote 30 years ago. I don't stumble in the fog, almost never anymore. It improved my condition that fast. CAVEAT: A number of bi-polar-1 patients THINK they have GREAT clarity. BUT, no. No. I do know the testimony of dozens of my family members and friends and I have a fairly reasonable self-awareness while it's ongoing inside my head. I really hope this might help one person because I was really on "Rubber Leg Street" for a long time. In the past few weeks, I've written 4 new poems. My brother Jimmy, gave me a "D", then a "B" on one and now 2 straight "A" poems. As readers of ours know, Jimmy is a far more astute editor than me. He doesn't kiss my tuchas because he's my brother; we both know that would be useless to me. GET BETTER! I give all credit to my psychiatrist, but mostly to my Higher Power. She is, simply, unwilling to fail me. Which is why I'm not going to win this $1B Powerball ticket I just ran up and bought; She loves me too much. G-d, I really do pray this might get somebody else out of a real bad jam. I'm nearer to 80 than 70. Don't "Hope", get "into action" and see your doctor. --- (Editor's note: your post is "wordy".)

11/12/2025

"Ah, look at all the lonely people."
I have the "answer", Teacher! No! "I" do!--No, mine is the right answer!! Nuh-uh, me, me Teacher! (I think we might all have the right answer, personally. Maybe we just haven't taken our flashlights out of our butts, quite yet.)

11/12/2025

Here's a photo of (hopefully) my friend WILLIAM LOGAN, the renowned poet and critic. I think WILLIAM LOGAN has done more to POSITIVELY impact the world of contemporary poetry than nearly anyone. If you've been reviewed by him (I haven't)--you know he is dead earnest and bald-faced honest in his remarks. Some poets may have felt offended. (I think I got that right.) I wonder if they might have considered him to be one their greatest teachers in life...in many of our lives?) When I read his reviews, of the work of our peers--I recognize the love and humility in his words, directed towards the poet, meant to help the poet "become" in a finer way. I may not "like" it when my finger gets torched on the stove--but I can recall it as an immensely valuable lesson. I say, Three Cheers for William Logan!! (The crowd ROARS it's approval!) Thank you, William, for everything you've done for all of us in love with poetry. Always among the most searing poems in any issue of MARGIE / The American Journal of Poetry, were his. Listen to him, read him: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=william+logan+in+books&crid=6C43Z4SRIJZI&sprefix=%2Caps%2C224&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent DIVE! DIVE!! DIVE!!!

11/12/2025

The latest issue of Salmagundi features poetry (past & present) from Joyce Carol Oates, Donald Hall, Robert Pinsky, Henri Cole, Chase Twitchell, Adrienne Rich, William Logan, Rosanna Warren, Anne Sexton, James Merrill, Frank Bidart and many others. I'm printing a poem of mine from a past issue of the review. Trust me, nobody today would come near it.

ON "THE MIDWAY",
FOR A MERE 25 CENTS &

if you operate the steam shovel’s
claw behind the glass
just perfectly,
you may sn**ch up

Officer J.D. Tippet’s
blood-encrusted Dallas PD Shield,
a clown nose
from the makeup kit of John Wayne Gacy,

a bottle of patoulie oil
originally found in Leslie Van Houten’s
left coat pocket a week or so after
Sharon Tate, expecting, was butchered alive.

And see? a tooth from the melon
sized head of Theophilus Eugene
“Bull” Connor. A dime
from John D. Rockefeller,

a genuine packet of Atomic
Fireworks “Nigger Chasers”,
a slice of a West Virginia
coal miner’s lung preserved

on a microscope slide, an unopened
rubber from Al
Capone’s crocodile skin wallet.
Maybe,

even a blood-soaked yarmulke
stained with the brains of a 13 year old
Jew walking home to supper who
suddenly learned which streets

in Queens
were for The Sons of Italy
and which streets
were for k***s. And,

if you dig deeper: the remains of 2
aliens stored cryogenically
by The United States Department
of The Air Force, and a coin commemorating

an 1816 Treaty with the Cherokee Nation, and
an owlishly twisted neck bone and skull
of a 9 year old boy who once played
and lived in Corinth, Mississippi,

a gook’s dick lying on the bottom
of a formaldehyde-filled
Mason Jar in the basement
of an alcoholic corporal’s house

trailer in Viburnum, Missouri, or maybe
the other two
gunmen
Justice Earl forgot about in his count,

a buffalo’s head, a holdup note
disguised as a credit default swap,
a partial birth abortion Lotto ticket
stamped: NOT A WINNER—all these

for a measly two-bits, from the midway
of a two bit traveling carnival
in a two bit chaw-‘backy hick town,
in a two bit sh*t-show “Winner Takes All” country

not unlike our own,
Mister.

*If this poems "triggers" any readers I'd just remark: "SFW?" and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

11/12/2025

https://www.persuasion.community/p/scenes-from-the-literary-blacklist

Widespread censorship is killing writers’ careers before they begin.

10/12/2025

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/charles-olson If there are those unfamiliar with CHARLES OLSON, as a poet, you deserve to learn and read as much about him as you can. Known as one of the "Black Mountain Poets" or "projectivist" poets to some. Pays great attention to the "architecture" of his poems. I admire Olson as one of the true "G I A N T S" of contemporary poetry. Please, if you have time, read some of his ideas below:

Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

09/12/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwowvppNUUs Watch this mo'-fo' ALL the way thru. "the eyes are the window to the soul..." -William Shakespeare HI AMERICA!

take 1 -1973

08/12/2025

Alan L. Kessler, FB

I would like to expose a situation. If your children (or grandchildren) don’t learn to play with children with special needs at school, maybe you should spend 10 minutes tonight explaining it to them. Because, although they don't currently live with these children at school, they will find them in their lives for sure.
In light of recent events regarding the exclusion of a child with autism from attending a school trip and a child with Down Syndrome being expelled from dance class because she couldn't keep up with it, I feel the need to share this. There are boys and girls that no one invites to birthday parties. There are special children who want to be part of a team but are not selected because it's more important to win than to include these children. Kids with special needs aren't weird, they just want what everyone wants: to be accepted!
Can I ask a question? Is there anyone willing to copy and paste this post on their wall without sharing it, like I did, for all the special children out there?
Please teach your children to be kind to these beautiful children!
Everyone needs love and kindness.--------Passed along to me via my great friend, Billy Lipsitz