Author Archives: voicemailpoems

by Jane Cope VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Pyrotechnique" by Jane Cope My job is to light a fire. The sunsof my dreams have told me my jobis to light a fire every night and I have taken it to heart.I keep the bass line thumping,I keep my tongue my wick tothe flame I’ve lit birthday candlesContinue reading “Pyrotechnique”

by Shea Foreman VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Naturalists Are the Nightwatch" by Shea Foreman Out to douse the pool lights.Already I feel the moonburn I’ll wake with. For moonburn,the dried heads of sunflowers.Rub. Waning, then waxing.Little siskins fall outand help to peck therelax deeper. Done right,next time you’ll be a bearof freshwater pearls. You lumber, youContinue reading “Naturalists Are the Nightwatch”

by Kate Levin VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Love Poem for Obliquity" by Kate Levin Let the phone ring—ignorethe dishes in the sink, the dustswept underneath the rug— because here are your legswrapped around my legs,here is the curtain of white light that fills your collarbones, washesyour face like a stone. Your bodyagainst my body on thisContinue reading “Love Poem for Obliquity”

by Donora Shaw VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Kalpa" by Donora Shaw after Skyrim; for Molly Brodak In the game he resurrects a creature, walrus-like, that comes galumphing after him in the way I feel I am kept, in the way I admired your precise grace like the end of a crystal snapped off in a wound.Continue reading “Kalpa”

by Pendambaye Z. Smith VOICEMAIL POEMS · "hold what the ship could not" by Pendambaye Z. Smith Pendambaye Z. Smith is a Black poet/scientist who is invested in the ways Black women sustain themselves in the midst of antiblackness. She has attended The Watering Hole Writing retreat and is a forthcoming Cave Canem and PinkContinue reading “hold what the ship could not”

by Sage Agee VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Don't Let Mom Write The Obituary" by Sage Agee Hey, soI think I might be dying.Or already dead.I’m not sure what the differenceis because my headis a ‘94 fleetwood hearse of detachment, drivingforward to an end dateon my to-do list,toward the ceremonyof the doing and the done and theContinue reading “Don’t Let Mom Write the Obituary”

by Tobi Kassim VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Confluent" by Tobi Kassim Every time we cross paths long membranes Weaken. Porous windows, vision merges After our eyelids rub. Darker sense but I recognized you still. After you shaved Your head your name was ashes. We scooped cinders of a flagging fire From the pit and spread blackContinue reading “Confluent”

Shelby Pinkham Alex Russell Claire Gallagher Olivia Delgado Tobi Kassim Sage Agee Pendambaye Z. Smith Donora Shaw Kate Levin Shea Foreman Jane Cope Ash Good Shannon Hearn Lu Chekowsky

by Olivia Delgado VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Call Back To Speak To A Less Disillusioned Representative" by Olivia Delgado It’ll be a short summer and the animals are growing old. If fear had a weight you’d call it your body. I know it sounds terrifying, but I feel another nervous breakdown coming on and I’m tooContinue reading “Call Back to Speak to a Less Disillusioned Representative”

by Claire Gallagher VOICEMAIL POEMS · "Bud Union" by Claire Gallagher I tried to draw my partelectrical line straightmeasure the kern of eachsegment as evenlyas the cherry pickerspluck center boughs from theoaks, leaving a Y ofbranches holding air, waiting untilsomeone will come undress them for bath Today road layers arestretching new pavement downour street, weContinue reading “Bud Union”