Poem of the Week | December 19, 2016
Arden Levine: "Middle"
This week, we are excited to present a new poem by Arden Levine. Levine’s poems are forthcoming in Barrow Street, The Carolina Quarterly, and RHINO, and recently appeared in AGNI, Sixth Finch,and Rattle. In 2016, her poem “Offering” was selected by Ted Kooser to be featured in American Life in Poetry (a project of The Poetry Foundation). Arden reads for the literary journal Epiphany, holds an MPA from New York University, directs projects and programs for nonprofits and government agencies, and is a D.C.-born Brooklyn resident.
Author’s note:
I had been writing a great deal about my father’s death (not exactly an invigorating subject). During that same time, my friends and I were toppling toward the near edge of middle age and into conversations about wrong choices and deferred ambition, our enthusiasm sanded down to ennui. I wondered if I could find a way to laugh into the drear and dread. Then I caught myself crushing a spider (an act that would have distressed my younger self) and decided to practice at being humorously ornery. Hence, this poem.
Middle
SEE THE ISSUE
SUGGESTED CONTENT
Poem of the Week
Apr 15 2024
“Love Poem for Lois” by Regan Green
“Love Poem for Lois” by Regan Green is our Poem of the Week. Regan Green grew up in Columbia, Tennessee, and now lives in Baltimore. She is a junior lecturer… read more
Poem of the Week
Apr 08 2024
“Gray” by Melissa Ginsburg
“Gray” by Melissa Ginsburg is our Poem of the Week. Melissa Ginsburg is the author of the poetry collections Doll Apollo (winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters… read more
Poem of the Week
Apr 01 2024
“Pharmacy Museum Tour Guide, New Orleans” by Andy Young
“Pharmacy Museum Tour Guide, New Orleans” by Andy Young is our Poem of the Week. Andy Young’s second full-length collection, Museum of the Soon to Depart, is forthcoming from Carnegie… read more