Stuff is time, time stuff, the feelgood ruthless:
Thirty shells that want nothing to do with one another,
the person I wanted to love moving into the dark.

Stuff is time, time stuff, the feelgood ruthless:
"Put back, you're where you would've been best
had you not had to be," but the chorus forgets
(or rather, as it's dead now, it forgot) the sweet spot
not long after nascence, but well before any obligation.

Stuff is time, time stuff, the feelgood ruthless:
None of me are ever alone, I'll give us that
(not to mention that the bulk of us are ugly)
but I'm the only one whoever's up here is—
blunt quiet; left, right; not not peculiar—
and I no more wake to forget than live to heal.
from the book TERMINATIONS / Flood Editions
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This poem was inspired by a photograph that I found on the street in Omaha, Nebraska. After living with it for a little while, I put it in a frame, titled it "Off the Beach," and mailed it to the poet Adam Clay. The poem is not a sonnet or a villanelle, but it makes use of some of the features of those two forms.  

Graham Foust on "Off the Beach"
Color image of Ariel against a crowded backdrop of bees
"Sylvia Plath’s Fascination with Bees"

"Sylvia Plath’s healthy relationship with bees and their impact on her work in times of debilitating writer’s block could even be described as that of a genius and their muse. She was a beekeeper herself and likely composed poems in her head while interacting with her bees and absorbing their conflict-free productivity. Pun fully intended, they gave her a much-needed buzz.'"

via JSTOR DAILY
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What Sparks Poetry:
Duy Đoàn on Language as Form


"The only fixed form I think I have ever wanted to understand is the pantoum. The fact that it's a Southeast Asian form really appealed to me. From what I know, it's an old Malaysian form. All of the lines are repeated once in a predetermined order. I've seen lots of variations when it comes to the order. The poet decides. These repetitions bring about a unique musical quality, which is one of the big draws of the pantoum. But the thing I like most about the form is its transparency."
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