I've been remiss! The last two Red Letters were gems: #294 - Susan Donnelly’s delightful meditation on Bach, automotive emergencies, and the freedom of what comes next.
#SusanDonnelly #RedLetters #poetry
And…

…and RLP#295 - Jennifer Clarvoe’s diminutive spiritual travelog, between Keats and Freud, covering a tiny swatch of London.

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#JenniferClarvoe #RedLetters #poetry

The Red Letters is beginning its 7th year - a vibrant community of poets&readers - marked with a poem from my own Grief's Apostrophe.
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#RedLetters #StevenRatiner #poetry

A new poem from poet/translator Carolyne Wright: "Making Love in a Cemetery" - teenage lust shaped into an Italian sonnet.

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#CarolyneWright #RedLetters #poetry

Linda Bamber's new poem (Red Letter #286), by turns sardonic and solemn, takes us back to Covid & our shared brush with mortality.

#LindaBamber #RedLetters #poetry

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RLP#282: a poem from former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser from the new chapbook FELLOW CREATURES--a benefit for the Red Letters.

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#TedKooser #RedLetters #poetry

Red Letter#277: a marvelous new poem from acclaimed poet Carol Muske-Dukes' next book,(BAD) SCHEHERAZADE.

#CarolMuske-Dukes #RedLetters #DragQueenStoryTime

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What sly delight in Pam Alexander's "Long Story Short" published in the new Red Letter - a history of Earth and its possible destruction.

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#RedLetters #PamAlexander

RLP#243: a poem from Kevin McLellan's collection Sky. Pond. Mouth. -- heartbreak and revelation.

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#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:

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#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.

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#WangJiaxin #RedLetters #ChinesePoetry

Intro - Steven Ratiner Poet and educator Steven Ratiner has contributed poetry and prose to numerous magazines in America and abroad. Two of his chapbooks were published in 2002: a retrospective collection from Pudding Hous...

Poet-turned-soldier, defending his Ukrainian homeland, Artur Dron' offers us an honest, harrowing glimpse from the frontlines. Published as RLP#266

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#ArturDron #Ukraine #RedLetters

Intro - Steven Ratiner Poet and educator Steven Ratiner has contributed poetry and prose to numerous magazines in America and abroad. Two of his chapbooks were published in 2002: a retrospective collection from Pudding Hous...

Jack Stewart's poem offers yet another fascinating take on the Wicked Witch of the (far) West in his new Red Letter poem.

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#JackStewart #RedLetters #WickedWitchoftheWest

Intro - Steven Ratiner Poet and educator Steven Ratiner has contributed poetry and prose to numerous magazines in America and abroad. Two of his chapbooks were published in 2002: a retrospective collection from Pudding Hous...

Acclaimed novelist Askold Melnyczuk's first love was poetry. The Venus of Odesa collects his poems & translations. RLP#264 depicts conscience clashing with calamity.
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#Melnyczuk #RedLetters

Intro - Steven Ratiner Poet and educator Steven Ratiner has contributed poetry and prose to numerous magazines in America and abroad. Two of his chapbooks were published in 2002: a retrospective collection from Pudding Hous...

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.

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#SusanRoneyOBrien #RedLetters #MS

Intro - Steven Ratiner Poet and educator Steven Ratiner has contributed poetry and prose to numerous magazines in America and abroad. Two of his chapbooks were published in 2002: a retrospective collection from Pudding Hous...

A posthumous poem from the dearly-missed Danielle Legros Georges, built upon slave documents from Colonial N. England. Crispus Attucks lives!

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#DanielleLegrosGeorges #RedLetters #poetry

Intro - Steven Ratiner Poet and educator Steven Ratiner has contributed poetry and prose to numerous magazines in America and abroad. Two of his chapbooks were published in 2002: a retrospective collection from Pudding Hous...

In RLP#260, science, history, and poetry collide inside Teresa Cader's lovely meditation on how we 'know.'

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#TeresaCader #RedLetters #hippocampus

Intro - Steven Ratiner Poet and educator Steven Ratiner has contributed poetry and prose to numerous magazines in America and abroad. Two of his chapbooks were published in 2002: a retrospective collection from Pudding Hous...

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.

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Our bitter childhood mistakes - is atonement ever possible? George Kalogeris' beautiful poem considers our shared fate.

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#GeorgeKalogeris #atonement #RedLetters

RLP#251 features the estimable Jennifer Clarvoe and a poem from her forthcoming collection, PIANO PIANO.

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#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.

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#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.
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#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.
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#JenniferMarkell #RedLetters

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the Red Letters! We've just completed our fifth year & are excited to leap into the sixth.

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RLP#248: Gary Whited celebrates his 80th(!) birthday with an evocative new poem from the Montana prairie.

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#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.

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#JonathanAaron #RedLetters #JosBrodsky

Bonnie Bishop's poem, "Traveling Solo," reminds us of how important it is to eventually arrive at the self. RLP#245

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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