State of the Union: Fifty Political Poems

From rough optimism to sharp criticism, fifty American poets present new work dissecting the current political climate in America. Wide-ranging writers bring their bold voices to this collection, including Eileen Myles, Matthew Rohrer, Rebecca Wolff, Terrance Hayes, Joe Wenderoth, and Tao Lin. “Walking by Hope Street” Look at the landscape,A lot of damage, no?But we are here together,And of needing me, hereThe world needs me,We are too alone.And what of our orange daylight,Growing darker as the lamplitTrees grow dark. ThereIs not enough to say.But our hands, our gentleFrozen hands sift throughThings like numbers out of breath.It will all be okay, I promise.Promise who? Promise the faded land.—Noelle Kocot“Literary Agency” Coretta ScottKing has died, the otherday. Dreamunrealized. Lostand found, lost again, bathosmy motivationmy Elysiandream. The placeinsideuntutored, incorruptible,without relation. That’ssomething to hold onto,and uncontingencydressing the wound. That’ssad and just “what it is.”It is what it is.That’s what I saywhen I can’t bear the news.—Rebecca Wolff