Holds Upon Happiness

Margaret Atwood is probably best known for her novel The Handmaid’s Tale but she is also a poet, literary critic and inventor. She invented the LongPen which allowed people to write in ink remotely by means of a tablet and the internet. Atwood’s poetry addresses women’s concerns and the suffering they endure. As Atwood has said, “My women suffer because most of the women I talk to seem to have suffered.” You begin this way:this is your hand,this is your eye,that is a fish, blue and flaton the paper, almostthe shape of an eye.This is your mouth, this is an Oor a moon, whicheveryou like. This is yellow.Outside the windowis…

Gerald Locklin was an American poet, professor, and editor. He was a prolific writer publishing over 3000 poems, works of fiction, and articles. Today’s poem is about a father and daughter. It made me think of my own daughter and her father. Poems about children growing up always get to me. my daughter, who turns twenty tomorrow,has become truly independent.she doesn't need her father to help herdeal with the bureaucracies of schools,hmo's, insurance, the dmv.she is quite capable of handlinglandlords, bosses, and auto repair shops.also boyfriends and roommates.and her mother.frankly it's been a big relief.the teenage years were often stressful.sometimes, though, i feel a little useless.but when she drove down…

Linda Gregg (1942-2019) was born in New York and raised in California. She wrote many volumes of poetry, won awards, and taught at several universities. W. S. Merwin said of her poetry, “They are original in the way that really matters: they speak clearly of their source. They are inseparable from the surprising, unrolling, eventful pure current of their language, and they convey at once the pain of individual loss, a steady and utterly personal radiance.” I'm not feeling strong yet, but I am takinggood care of myself. The weather is perfect.I read and walk all day and then walk to the sea.I expect to swim soon. For now I…

Robert Hershon was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1936. He was a poet and a publisher. Hershon published over a dozen poetry collections and was the co-founder and co-editor of Hanging Loose Press and Hanging Loose magazine. This poem made me think of my son, who is a full-grown adult yet, somehow, still my baby. Don't fill up on breadI say absent-mindedlyThe servings here are hugeMy son, whose hair may bereceding a bit, saysDid you really justsay that to me?What he doesn't knowis that when we're walking together, when we getto the curbI sometimes start to reachfor his handSentimental Moment or Why Did the Bauguette Cross the Road?Robert Hershon