I recently had the chance to interview one of my favorite poets John Yamrus who after 40 years of writing is still producing amazing stuff. Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did the opportunity!
C.Q.: John thanks for carving out the time for this interview. I have often heard you say that it [...]
somebody take my picture, quick!
right now
kathy’s upstairs baking something.
i don’t know what it is, but
the recipe calls for whiskey.she asked me to get it for her,
so i dug a bottle
of Jack Daniels
out of the liquor cabinet.
it’s right now sitting on top of
the desk in front of me,
along with my reading glasses
and some poems i just [...]
message read
on a
license plate
this
afternoon:
I WUV JB
for all
the money in the world
i wouldn’t want to be
JB.
About the Author
John Yamrus
Since 1970 John Yamrus has published 2 novels and 15 volumes of poetry. More than 900 of his poems have appeared in magazines around the world. Selections of his work have been translated into several languages, most recently, [...]
Brandi spells her namewith an “i”
and she dots the i
with a circle
and sometimes with a heart.
she drives
a red ‘77 Honda
that needs tires
and a brake job.
she’s two years out of high school,
with a kid,
and she lives with her mother
who drinks more often than not.
she could have been married once,
but he left.
now, she drives to work
every day [...]
Deadly Earnest: A review of Todd Moore’s 2 newest Dillinger books
Let me be up front about this; I’ve admired Todd Moore’s poetry for years now. My enjoyment of his poetry probably goes back farther than 1980, but I can’t prove that. What I CAN document is that the oldest of his books that I currently [...]
you
are
a bowl of popcorn,
a slim volume of poems
and laughter
during a moment of silence.
you are
pink bubble gum,
a damn fool
and the only
person in the world
i care about.
you are
a clock with no hands,
a blue bedroom
and a
twenty dollar bill.
you
refuse to accept
the inevitable.
you own
way too many dresses
and you don’t
shoot pool.
you are
as uncomplaining
as the sea.
ultimately,
no one
can put you
into words…
not
even
me.
About the Author
John [...]
bullets
and
bombs,
guns, injection, the chair…
heart attack, cancer,
earthquake and
flame…
there’s
plenty of ways
to go,
but the hardest and saddest of all
is
boredom.
About the Author
John Yamrus
Since 1970 John Yamrus has published 2 novels and 15 volumes of poetry. More than 900 of his poems have appeared in magazines around the world. Selections of his work have been translated into several languages, most [...]
Novices or indifferent readers to poetry tend to hear the word poetry and think “Oh Captain, My Captain.” They think of the classical works of Robert Frost and Emily Dickenson and the English classes they were forced to sit through and study in their youths. The words were read and lost in translation on most as [...]
i make her a sandwich
with ham and lettuce.
adding a hardboiled egg
to the plate,
i give it to her
while she reads the paper in bed.
then,
i go downstairs and read
while my dog
snores quietly
in the sun.
some days are like this.
quiet.
what it all comes down to
is consistency.
that’s the key.
it doesn’t matter
what you’re talking about…
training a dog…
hitting a fastball…
writing a book…
painting [...]
that last drop
(the one that
usually ends up
on your pants)
shook off
onto my hand.
and it struck me
as pure and clear
as a line
from the Diamond Sutra
that no matter
how hard
we try to negate
or deny
our humanity…
we can never
really
shake it.
About the Author
John Yamrus
Since 1970 John Yamrus has published 2 novels and 15 volumes of poetry. More than 900 of his poems [...]
