books – Words & Music by Mike Power

New York’s Best Emerging Poets 2019

Happy to have my poem “Drawing” included along with so many other great writers from the Empire State in New York’s Best Emerging Poets 2019 Anthology. For the poetry lovers on your holiday shopping list you can pick up a copy from the good people at Z Publishing.

This is Not Happening to You

I was introduced to Tim Tomlinson’s writing through his poetry, which I recommend highly to those who love poetry, and even more highly to those who don’t. You might find your distaste for poems is relieved after reading a few of his. Tim’s poems often feel like fiction, so I thought I knew what toContinue reading “This is Not Happening to You”

Candide

I thought Candide was funny at first. It is an easy mistake to make in the first chapter where we meet Candide and his beloved Cunegonde: On her way back to the castle she met Candide. She blushed, and so did he. She greeted him in a faltering voice, and he spoke to her withoutContinue reading “Candide”

James Baldwin and the Art of Empathy

We live in an age of short attention spans and sound bytes, which would seem to suggest shallow imaginations but it might signify something very different: an increased ability to absorb more information in less time. One example of this optimistic interpretation is the fact that we are living in a golden age of poetry.Continue reading “James Baldwin and the Art of Empathy”

If Beale Street Could Talk

Yesterday morning there was a man in the lobby of my office building talking into his phone at an obscene volume. As we rode up in the elevator together – four or five of us – it became obvious that he was not like the rest of us and did not want to be. HeContinue reading “If Beale Street Could Talk”