Our Parents by Stephen Dunn

Our Parents Stephen Dunn Our parents died at least twice, the second time when we forgot their stories, or couldn’t imagine how often they craved love, or felt useless, or yearned for some justice in this world. In their graves, our parents’ need for us is pure, they’re lost without us. Their honeymoon in Havana […]

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Optimism by Stephen Dunn

Optimism Stephen Dunn My friend the pessimist thinks I’m optimistic because I seem to believe in the next good thing. But I see rueful shadows almost everywhere. When the sun rises, I think of collisions and AK-47s. It’s my mother’s fault, who praised and loved me, sent me into the dreadful world as if it […]

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Learning the Bicycle by Wyatt Prunty

Learning the Bicycle By Wyatt Prunty For Heather The older children pedal past Stable as little gyros, spinning hard To supper, bath, and bed, until at last We also quit, silent and tired Beside the darkening yard where trees Now shadow up instead of down. Their predictable lengths can only tease Her as, head lowered, […]

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The Prelude by William Wordsworth

Excerpt from “The Prelude” by William Wordsworth When from our better selves we have too long Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop, Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, How gracious, how benign is Solitude! —Hermit Deep in the bosom of the Wilderness; Votary (in vast Cathedral, where no foot Is treading […]

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