At a fruit stand in the Everglades, Faustus Orders a papaya-mango milkshake That he drinks through an oversized straw. The parking lot is full, and covers of Jimmy Buffett songs twang from speakers On a flatbed truck. Across the road, fields Have been cleared for construction, and blocks Of townhouses have replaced the tomatoes And […]
George Franklin
George Franklin is the author of eight poetry collections, including A Man Made of Stories (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions) and a book of essays, Poetry & Pigeons: Short Essays on Writing. Individual poems have been published in Thimble, Nimrod, Rattle, Gramercy Review, New Ohio Review, and One Art, among others. He practices law in Miami, is a translation editor for Cagibi, teaches poetry classes in Florida prisons, and co-translated, along with the author, Ximena Gómez’s Último día/Last Day.
Wisława Szymborska and the Wounded Angel
A Polish poet was taking her exam on the History of Humanity. It was still winter, but the first snowdrops had pushed Their way through the hard earth. The grass was still brown, But there were bushes with leaves. Inside, a pencil scratched Stubbornly against a sheet of cheap paper. The questions On the exam […]
Teaching Walt Whitman in a Prison in Florida
I thought of you, Walt Whitman, three summers ago, When I stood on that hill in Brooklyn, looking down on the river, Considering how you might be standing there as well, Or under my boot-soles, except I wasn’t wearing boots. Now, I think of you again, this time in the parking lot of a prison […]