What sly delight in Pam Alexander's "Long Story Short" published in the new Red Letter - a history of Earth and its possible destruction. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com/category/red... or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #RedLetters #PamAlexander

RLP#243: a poem from Kevin McLellan's collection Sky. Pond. Mouth. -- heartbreak and revelation. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com/category/red... or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #KevinMcLellan #RedLetters #WaltWhitman

Celebrating Ted Kooser's new chapbook - published as a benefit for the Red Letters. Read about it in this week's RLP: To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com/category/red... or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #TedKooser #FellowCreatures #RedLetters #poetry

Red Letter #271 features a poem from one of China's foremost poets, Wang Jiaxin - utterly relevant to our current situation. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com/category/red... or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #WangJiaxin #RedLetters #ChinesePoetry

Poet-turned-soldier, defending his Ukrainian homeland, Artur Dron' offers us an honest, harrowing glimpse from the frontlines. Published as RLP#266 To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #ArturDron #Ukraine #RedLetters

Jack Stewart's poem offers yet another fascinating take on the Wicked Witch of the (far) West in his new Red Letter poem. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #JackStewart #RedLetters #WickedWitchoftheWest

Acclaimed novelist Askold Melnyczuk's first love was poetry. The Venus of Odesa collects his poems & translations. RLP#264 depicts conscience clashing with calamity. To receive the new poem, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #Melnyczuk #RedLetters

Heart-breakingly beautiful - reading Susan Roney-O’Brien's new suite of poems about coping with an awful diagnosis: MS. Red Letter #263 now available. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #SusanRoneyOBrien #RedLetters #MS

A posthumous poem from the dearly-missed Danielle Legros Georges, built upon slave documents from Colonial N. England. Crispus Attucks lives! To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #DanielleLegrosGeorges #RedLetters #poetry

In RLP#260, science, history, and poetry collide inside Teresa Cader's lovely meditation on how we 'know.' To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #TeresaCader #RedLetters #hippocampus

RLP#259 is a lovely triparte poem from Susan Donnelly exploring 'the nature of things' (as Lucretius might have phrased it) in our emotional lives. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: stevenratiner.com or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com

Our bitter childhood mistakes - is atonement ever possible? George Kalogeris' beautiful poem considers our shared fate. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #GeorgeKalogeris #atonement #RedLetters

RLP#251 features the estimable Jennifer Clarvoe and a poem from her forthcoming collection, PIANO PIANO. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #JenniferClarvoe #RedLetters #poetry

For Poetry Month, a Flashback Friday from the first weeks of the Red Letters back in 2020: a lyric-tour-de-force from Thomas DeFreitas. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #ThomasDeFreitas#RedLetters

. . .If you're in the Boston area: Tuesday, April 15th, 7 p.m., free, everyone welcome! 700 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington. Small parking lot plus street parking available. Hope to see you there!

If you're in the Boston area. . . I'll be doing a reading on Tuesday at the Robbins Library in Arlington from GRIEF'S APOSTROPHE, along with the always-marvelous Fred Marchant reading work from a new manuscript. (continued)

As baseball's in full-swing, a tribute to Jimmy Piersall, youth & our desire to express our truth:RLP#250 with poet Susan Eisenberg. For new installments, subscriptions, or submissions: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #SusanEisenberg #RedLetters #JimmyPiersall

Red Letter #249 from poet Jennifer Markell: an elegy for her aunt, a memory of Theater in the Park, a salute to the power of poetry. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #JenniferMarkell #RedLetters

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the Red Letters! We've just completed our fifth year & are excited to leap into the sixth. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit your own poetry: you can reach me at: [email protected] or view the newest installment at: dougholder.blogspot.com

RLP#248: Gary Whited celebrates his 80th(!) birthday with an evocative new poem from the Montana prairie. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #GaryWhited #RedLetters #poetry

It's been a while since Jonathan Aaron had a new book out - but today's Red letter highlights a little gem from the collection. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #JonathanAaron #RedLetters #JosBrodsky

Bonnie Bishop's poem, "Traveling Solo," reminds us of how important it is to eventually arrive at the self. RLP#245 To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com

I am delighted to share the news that my new poetry collection, GRIEF'S APOSTROPHE, has been published by Beltway Editions. It can be purchased on most of the book sites like bookshop.com, Amazon, and Barnes&Noble. Take a look! #StevenRatiner #RedLetters #Grief #poetry

Red Letter #243 features a new poem from Michael T. Steffen. What happens when a bat - or inspiration - startles us awake? To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #MichaelTSteffen #RedLetters #poetry #bat

RLP#242 - an elegiac poem from Susan Donnelly, touching on the unique pain involved in the loss of siblings, quite moving. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #SusanDonnelly #RedLetters #siblings

A new poem from the marvelous Danielle Legros Georges celebrating Black History Month: to make us pause, reassess, appreciate. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #DanielleLegrosGeorge #BlackHistory

Red Letter#240 explores the power and surprise of deadpan delivery - in comedy as well as poetry. 3 new poems from the estimable Andrea Cohen. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #AndreaCohen #RedLetters

Melissa Green is a 'lifer.' Despite physical & emotional difficulties that might have silenced her writing, she persists. RLP#239 offers an introduction. Enjoy! To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com

In time for the inauguration, Red Letter #238: two new poems from the marvelous Martha Collins - fierce, sardonic, necessary. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #MarthaCollins #RedLetters #inauguration

The art of the one-liner -- from Basho to commedian Henny Youngman to WS Merwin & Brad Bennett! Timing&compression! To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #One-Liners #Basho #BardBennett #RedLetters

RLP#236 features a poem from Glyn Maxwell's recent NEW & SELECTED -- a heartfelt piece about parental anxiety and the calm of the poem. #GlynMaxwell #RedLetters To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com

Flashback Friday RLP! Celebrate cultural inheritance & the coming New Year: from Deborah Melone and the wisdom of the Shang Dyn. emperor. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #DeborahMelone #RedLetters

I needed this! An unbridled new poem from Cammy Thomas, Red Letter #235 -- chase away doom-scrolling and embrace joy! To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #CammyThomas #RedLetters #FuckDoom

Red Letter #234: Thomas DeFreitas's new poem is a meditation on the source of poetic language and the need for connection. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #ThomasDeFreitas #RedLetters #Catullus

Migrating geese & remembered faces fly through the new Red Letter - a bittersweet poem from Lee Varon from her just-published collection. To receive the new installment, subscribe, or submit poems: [email protected] or view at: dougholder.blogspot.com #LeeVaron #RedLetters #poetry

Today's Red Letter: a new poem from Susan Aizenberg, "La Liseuse." focused on Mary Cassatt's sister and subject, Lydia. Fascinating portrait of our ordinary grace. Available from: [email protected] or at: dougholder.blogspot.com #SusanAizenberg #LydiaCassatt #poetry

Today's Red Letter: a new poem from Susan Aizenberg, "La Liseuse." focused on Mary Cassatt's sister and subject, Lydia. Fascinating portrait of our ordinary grace. Available from: [email protected] or at: dougholder.blogspot.com #SusanAizenberg #LydiaCassatt #poetry

Red Letter #231 - Robert Guzikowski, a poet struggling for decades with aphasia, uses the illness as both subject & engine for his poetry. Such startling heartfelt work. Available from: [email protected] or at: dougholder.blogspot.com #RobertGuzikowski #aphasia #poetry

The RED LETTERS is a poetry project begun in 2019 during my first term as Laureate of Arlington, MA We publish a single poem weekly plus commentary - featuring new talents as well as some of poetry's most important voices. To read samples, submit, or subscribe: [email protected]