gaze here/take notes/listen: the Milky Way seen from the salt flats www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/u... Hilary Hahn and Cory Smythe “Mercy” by Max Richter www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz_b... then begin to write—draw on your notes—letting any new thoughts and images in, writing very freely

A lovely find: spring poem by W.S. Merlin Black Cherries photo by jogsplash www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/158649...

Deep autumn— my neighbor, how does he live, I wonder? Basho translated by Robert Hass Photo by Lea

living room meditation As the sound fades, the scent of the flowers comes up— the evening bell. Basho translator, Robert Hass

Along The Grand Canal Hoar frost has congealed On the deck Of my little boat. The water Is clear and still. Cold stars beyond counting Swim alongside. Thick reeds hide the shore. You’d think you’d left the earth. Suddenly there breaks in Laughter and song. Ch’in Kuan translator, Kenneth Rexroth

An antidote to the blank page. Take notes on the Manet painting. What do you see? (5-7 mins) Then write down impressions of a particular time in your life, what did you see, hear, taste, smell, feel (5-7 mins). Begin to write; use any language from your notes. www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

The Lamb by Linda Gregg from Chosen by the Lion Photo by Kat Smith

Excited that my poem “Hermina leaves the house” appears in the Fall 2025 issue of San Pedro River Review. Thank you to Editors JC and Tobi Alfier for choosing it. Hermina, my paternal grandmother, appears as a character in my new manuscript.

In Joe Elliot’s poems: presence of the world, family, objects, people, creatures. Reading so many posts from people bringing their kids to college for the first time, I thought of this poem. This is from Joe’s book Idea for a B-Movie. His most recent book: spuytenduyvil.net/contact---ma...

Sun bath

Delighted that my poem “here today” appears in the August issue of Stone Poetry Quarterly. Thank you to Editor D. Ward Hey for selecting it. “here today” is from my new manuscript. stonepoetryjournal.com/hermine-mein...

Ama Codjoe is a poet new to me, who I discovered in The Best American Poetry 2024. Exceptional tenderness, beauty, vision. @nybooks.com www.tupeloquarterly.com/uncategorize...

My third book for the Sealey challenge is @herminemeinhard.bsky.social’s Bright Turquoise Umbrella.

Summer and a poem by the wonderful Wendy Chen August 18th From the summer porch, I watch the night-blooming cereus. Its flowering past the hour. O, maternal voice, paternal voice— their laughter through the screen. Smell of bread, still warm, being broken. Wendy Chen

New York City One morning early in the pandemic, walking, I found birdhouses newly placed on the trees of 81st Street. Each one a little different. They are with us still, and also the hope they spoke of in these uncertain days.

“Talk,” by Mary A. Koncel “Talk,” a moving prose poem, which is a hybrid form that appears on the page as prose—in paragraphs—but works in ways similar to poetry, through image, association, compression. @tupelopress.bsky.social

Cooling off

A poem on the page is a physical object—its shape has an effect on us that is part of its meaning. For example, Amor Fati, by Jane Hirshfield: the small stanzas float; one long line is a moment of turning. A psychic shift is enacted in the poem’s form. www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

My experience at the New York City Anne Frank exhibit: visceral. The twists and turns, the way I didn’t know quite where I was in the space and where it would take me next, each turn revealing something unexpected. Unsettling, beautiful, deep. www.annefrankexhibit.org/exhibition

Stopping to say hi at the doggie day care, 82nd & Paws, here in New York City. Here’s Toi Derricotte reading her poem, “The Good Old Dog.” voca.arizona.edu/track/id/66049

Happy Father's Day. Read my poem "Here he is" on my website. www.herminemeinhard.com/about photo by Alfonso Scarpa

Listen to "Nights of the Fireflies," a reading and my conversation with Wendy Chen. Her book of translations of the great Chinese poet Li Qingzhao has just been released. www.herminemeinhard.com/news-events/... @wendychen.bsky.social

A classic and a favorite, “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden. A childhood memory. And a sonnet (14 lines with a shift or “turn” that takes place.) I love the traditional form and the way natural speech and feeling are held within it. poets.org/poem/those-w... photo by Jon Butterworth

I encourage people to read a poem as they would listen to a song. The writer is like a composer: he ends each line where he wants you to pause. In this funny poem, James Schuyler gets us to pause in unlikely places, making for a playful syncopated melody.

The Sleeping Pig I love Jenny George’s poems and thought to share this earthy, ethereal one with you today. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147680... Find more of her poems on the Poetry Foundation website. Photo by Kameron Kincade on Unsplash