Wow, this blog post title is a little bossy. But trust me, these poems are worth putting aside work or the dishes or your screaming kid for a few minutes.

What did he see in my mother’s eyes
when I watched his fist come up,
catch her jaw?
He clattered her teeth
like antlers rattling to conjure
a fight, a shot, a killing.

~ from My First Stepdad was Hunter by Rachel Roupp, published by Rust + Moth

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There will be no stars – the poem has had enough of them. I think / we can agree / we no longer believe there is anyone in a poem who is just now realizing / they are dead, so let’s stop talking about it.

~ from The Rules by Leila Chatti, published by Poets.Org

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Okay, I admit I’m a bit biased about these next two poems because the poet is my amazing sister-wife, Whitney. But our friendship aside, these poems are good and you need to read them.

“One day black walnut trees

will break my heart. They do already 

remind me of you, Daddy. 

I saved an article 

about what makes a predator:

every man starts in 

boyhood but then

I didn’t read it

I deleted it (by mistake)

and can’t find it again.”

~ from Masculinity by Whitney Roberts Hill, published by The Woman, Inc.

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” I am a crescent moon whisper thin,

that baby born without a rib cage,

a fluttery organ under papery skin.”

~ from Lining by Whitney Roberts Hill, published by The Woman, Inc.

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I wish I could cut off your pain like hair, I tell her.

(But all I really want to do is comb it…

~ from When a Friend Goes Through a Breakup by E.A. Peticone, published by Rust + Moth

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What amazing poems have you read recently? Share the title or link in a comment so I can read them!