• Home
    • Nonfiction
    • Fiction
    • Poetry
    • Multi-Media
    • Art and Photography
    • Interviews
  • Print Archive
    • Music Column
    • Pop Culture Issue
    • Anthology
    • Who We Are
    • Submit
    • Contact
Menu

The Normal School

  • Home
  • GENRES
    • Nonfiction
    • Fiction
    • Poetry
    • Multi-Media
    • Art and Photography
    • Interviews
  • Print Archive
  • Special Features
    • Music Column
    • Pop Culture Issue
    • Anthology
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Submit
    • Contact
 
 

Three Poems By Esther Lee

June 25, 2015

Give me back to my body—not the same

narratives you write everyday nor wheels on

ends of piano legs, but rather, a momentary

transcendence, or at least system overridden,

before you take a bullet in the back—

Read More
In Poetry Tags Esther Lee, Poetry, Labanotation
2015-06-17-TwoPoems-Cheng-Anthro_Page (1).jpg

Two Poems By Jennifer S. Cheng

June 17, 2015

If temperature were a way to know the world, then

waning heat, half-heat, these would be names for the body in progress

and not merely words for the time of day. If texture were our

primary experience, we might have ways of calling ourselves

to others.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Jennifer S. Cheng, Poetry, Anthropology of the Body

Four poems By Samiya Bashir

May 20, 2015

Avoid heavy cottons.

Embrace the blend into a moonless night.

Necessities only: medicine, make-up, moisturizer.

Leave lugging to the muscle.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Samiya Bashir, Poetry, Atoms in Motion
stove.jpg

Two Poems By Lyn Coffin

May 7, 2015

Walking hard on a stone beach, both of us

(as we joked) literally around the bend,

we came to where once upon a time a cliff

collapsed-- the wreckage of what had been

a cottage with a view

Read More
In Poetry Tags Lyn Coffin, Poetry, The Chamber Where Heat Is Trapped, God Speaks To Us
christmas.jpg

For Jermaine, Six, Dead in Boston By Patricia Smith

May 5, 2015

Spent bullets sparkle on streets grimy with the thud of winter.

Knives bulge odd angles in children’s pockets, and any one

of their upturned words could bring us another you.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Patricia Smith, Poetry, For Jermaine
2015-04-16-Symptoms-Tallmadge.jpg

Symptoms of Homesickness by Gabriella R. Talmadge

April 16, 2015

Constant state of what. Word for word for what.

what wounded. Thirst of what, tending the fires of what.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Gabriella R Tallmadge, Poetry, Symptoms of Homesickness

Two Poems By Grant Kitrell

March 25, 2015

Things are not always dead. Dad’s elbow, for instance, I thought I saw it folding in the shallows among the orange tree scraps. Mom dumps them off the end to float the creek.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Grant Kitrell, Poetry, Off the Dock, Everyone's Pregnant

Three Poems By Ladan Osman

February 16, 2015

I can't tell why I think the dried corncobs

in the gravel and the mattress under the tree

were not put here by children who bite so fast

they leave rows of kernels.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Ladan Osman, Poetry, The Woman in the Field, Gnats, Amber Doll
2015-01-15-Charleston_600 (1).jpg

Two Poems by Cortney Lamar Charleston

January 15, 2015

And it darts across the street with the speed

of a rumor’s shadow – a dark and discreet beast

about his size, small configuration of bones

that he is.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Cortney Lamar Charleston, Poetry, Strays, self-portrait, Self-Portrait as a Tea Bag
2015-01-08-Chin-Tanner_600 (1).jpg

Three Poems by Wendy Chin-Tanner

January 8, 2015

Honeybee, hornet, yellow jacket, wasp.

Cleopatra holds asp to breast: hive loss.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Wendy Chin-Tanner, Poetry, Apoidea, Supermoon, The Thin Veil
2015-01-01-PoetryandArt-Ware01.jpg

Poetry and Art by Joshua Ware

January 1, 2015

In the avocado night, lit green by the avocado light, we wait, suddenly, for the sun to break bright, binding us together in the avocado dawn. In the repetition of our words, of our sounds, of our songs, of our thoughts made from music from our mouths, we love what binds us together.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Joshua Ware, Poetry, Trees for SJL, Radio Stars, La Notte
mountain.jpg

Three Poems by Jeff Alessandrelli

December 27, 2014

Using too many adjectives

is no different than leaving

the price tag

on

a designer sports jacket

you purchased second hand.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Jeff Alessandrelli, Poetry, May 5th, July 12th, 20/20
2014-12-09_TwoPoems_Shaheen.jpg

Two Poems by Glenn Shaheen

December 9, 2014

Let’s party. Like, I want to be a believer in the power

of dance, the point of the party. There are individuals

in every corner, bellies filled with animal something.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Glenn Shaheen, Poetry, Jubilation
ruin-old-house-decay-old-building-lapsed.jpg

Three Poems By Philip Metres

December 6, 2014

the margin is not the margin

to the margin / the central drone

trails a sound like a lawnmower

mowing down the sky / you look up

Read More
In Poetry Tags Philip Metres, Poetry, Uprooted Olive, The Politics of Translation, Ismail and Abla Khatib

Three Poems By Laura Bernstein

November 29, 2014

We follow directions: spread a shallow bed of seeds

in my belly button, place plastic wrap layers over

my stomach, and lay my body out in sunlight.

Read More
In Poetry Tags Laura Bernstein, Poetry, The Strawberries, Garden of Eden, Please Identify and Circle
Hayan Charara 1979

1979 by Hayan Charara

October 11, 2014

We were stopped

at a red light, I was in the passenger seat,

and a guy crossing the street looked

at the Buick, then at us

Read More
In Poetry Tags Hayan Charara, Poetry, 1979
2014-10-11-Charara-Gaza.jpg

Gaza by Hayan Charara

October 11, 2014

Stay with me, my boy

says every night before falling

asleep. He makes it easy

Read More
In Poetry Tags Hayan Charara, Poetry, Gaza

Three Poems By Kwame Dawes

May 1, 2014

I heard something other than
the chattering of birds in the trees,
something like the hint of music

Read More
In Poetry, Print Tags Kwame Dawes, 2014 spring vol. 7 issue 1
Debra Marquart

Kablooey is the Sound You'll Hear by Debra Marquart

December 1, 2013

then plaster falling and the billow of gypsum
after your sister blows a hole in the ceiling
of your brother’s bedroom with the shotgun
he left loaded and resting on his dresser.

Read More
In Poetry, Print Tags Debra Marquart, 2013 fall vol. 6 issue 2

Flower Gate and Sea of Gallilee By Kazim Ali

December 1, 2013

My disobedient body pierces the I
Music drifting landward hand in hand

Read More
In Poetry, Print Tags 2013 fall vol. 6 issue 2
← Newer Posts Older Posts →

Powered by Squarespace