Age 12 1990 golden Chevy 1/2 ton Age 16 1986 grey Saab totaled Age 17 1959 black Chrysler Windsor Golden-Lion 1972 yellow Volkswagen Beetle 1969 tan convertible Volkswagen Beetle busted fuel pump; never ran Age 18 1995 black Ford Mustang Age 19 1995 black Camry  Age 20 2002 silver Saturn Age 26 2002 tan Honda…

II. The child asks for a toy gun. The poet says, “no.” The white child asks why. The poet answers, “You cannot have a toy gun because a black child cannot play with a toy gun without getting shot at by the police.”

I. The child asks, “Is this the end, the end of everything?” The poet answers, “If it is, then I am so grateful to have known you.” And the child, knowing, answers, “You’re not supposed to say that. Don’t say that.”

Because a young girl told me I couldn’t be one–because boys were doctors and girls were nurses. Because students will still call me “Mrs.” Because I still call myself “teacher.” Because I write poems–books of them!–but I am afraid to introduce myself, a poet. Because I am still expecting to be told I am not…

Emily Bobo reads “The Tale about the Land of Cockaigne.” The original version of this tale is a brag where each line is a bigger lie about how great the Land of Cockaigne was. Audio.

Audio. Emily Bobo reads her re-telling of a fairytale about how some children watched their father slaughter a pig, then imitated him in play.

the crisp crunch underboot of Kansas-dry Kentucky bluegrass– the earth contracting, cracks– this is how one lets loose her roots

for her, hands are a marker of age and class– calloused bitten bloody worn and capable– she gifts me lotion. Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz …blogs.loc.gov Alfred Stieglitz | Georgia O’Keeffe–Hands | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Daughter says she can’t relate because she has never lost anyone. Knowing she will, I teach her to love anyway.