Mastodawn

Trevor Burrows Jan 28

I want to be doused
in cheese

& fried. I want
to wander

the aisles, my heart's
supermarket stocked high

as cholesterol. I want to die
wearing a sweatsuit—

I want to live
forever in a Christmas sweater,

a teddy bear nursing
off the front. I want to write

a check in the express lane.
I want to scrape

my driveway clean

myself, early, before
anyone's awake—

---
-- Excerpt from "Ode to the Midwest" by Kevin Young

Full poem is here:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/49647/ode-to-the-midwest

#Poetry #TodaysPoem #KevinYoung

Ode to the Midwest

I want to die wearing a sweatsuit— I want to live forever in a Christmas sweater, a teddy bear nursing off the front. I want to scrape my driveway clean…

The Poetry Foundation

Trevor Burrows Dec 10

"Our days are full of id right now ... but, hopefully the pure composure of fourteen lines can modulate that id factor a little bit in our day."

Henri Cole, in conversation with Kevin Young about his poem "Figs" on a recent New Yorker #Poetry podcast

#HenriCole #KevinYoung

Andrew Shields Jul 1, 2025

In that emptied, electric air

Hereafter
Kevin Young

#Poetry #KevinYoung #Hereafter #Flying #Lightning

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/1690317/hereafter

Hereafter

Once, in winter, I was blessed by lightning, the plane sudden struck—the boom of it, the cabin lit up & then the air made metal in my mouth. It’s true, you can look it up— we had circled like hell, _____ trying to land a good while— once even descended through clouds of snow, earthbound, only to…

The Poetry Foundation