Saturday, August 29, 2020

CRC BLOG FEATURE on Michael Lee Simpson and his screenplay WORTHY OF GOLD based on the life of Olympic Gold winner Pete Mehringer


*The images in this specific piece are granted copyright privilege by:  Public Domain, CCSAL, GNU Free Documentation Licenses, Fair Use Under The United States Copyright Law, or given copyright privilege by the copyright holder which is identified beneath the individual photo.

**Some of the links will have to be copied and then posted in your search engine in order to pull up properly

***The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished fiction genre (including screenwriters and playwrights) for INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION.  Contact CRC Blog via email at
caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

****Michael Lee Simpson’s screenplay WORTHY OF GOLD is based on the life of his great uncle Pete Mehringer who won the Olympic Gold in wrestling in 1932.

Name of screenplay? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? Worthy of Gold. Because the Olympics is the climactic part of the story, everything the protagonist (my great-uncle, Pete Mehringer) (LEFT) goes through leads up to competing in freestyle wrestling at the 1932 Olympic Games, I originally titled my historical drama The Olympiad.   

          The poster for that particular Olympics features a delicate, angelic-looking blonde-haired boy in a white outfit and white shoes staring skyward with a wreath wrapped around his shoulders, mouth gaping, left arm reaching high against a rocky blue backdrop. “OLYMPIC GAMES—July 20—August 14th 1932” spreads across the top. Midway down by his legs, “CALL TO THE GAMES OF THE X OLYMPIAD” in dark red lettering. At his feet, “LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA” on a broad orange banner right above the iconic Olympic rings. 
          This always stood out to me because it hung on the wall of the guest room at my grandparents’ house, which was in the same town the story took place in almost a century before. I fell asleep many nights with that poster lit up by a dim lamp on the bedside table. Being a family story, it was always there and stayed there until my grandma died and my family sold the house. “Olympiad” surfaced in my mind when my grandpa (Above Left)  suggested I write a screenplay about Pete’s journey to the Olympics.
Although that sounded bold and cinematic, my mom (Right) suggested Worthy of Gold. It fit because the obstacles Pete overcomes to win that gold medal—poverty, an alcoholic father, the tragic death of his sister who burns to death in the family fireplace, facing people with a strong hatred towards him—naturally make him question his worth and purpose in the world.
What is the date you began writing this screenplay and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I’ve always loved storytelling, particularly films rooted in screenplays pumping with creativity. When I hear “creativity,” my mind goes to fantasy—Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz

          At age thirteen in 2002, I was curious about the nuts and bolts, the blueprint of a production before the actors stood on set and cameras started rolling. I picked up Syd Field’s “The Foundation of Screenwriting” and studied it, reading about format, dialogue, plot points and story arcs. Thinking I knew everything about screenwriting just by reading that book, I embarked on a new writing venture. 
         
     I wrote my first screenplay, an organized crime thriller called Blackstreet. Other than the opening scene, it said “amateur” on every page. Accepting it for what it was, I took my grandpa’s idea of writing about my great-uncle and wrote Worthy of Gold starting in 2004. After that, the screenplay became a semi and quarterfinalist in the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, as well as winner in the Austin Film Festival and Worldfest Houston.

Where did you do most of your writing? And please describe in detail. In a room by myself where there were no distractions. Oftentimes that lights would be off so I couldn’t see anything but the screen.

What were your writing habits while writing this screenplay - did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I started not with an outline, but a timeline—a huge piece of construction paper on the living room floor with a line drawn from one side to the other—an A to B-style thing. Worthy of Gold takes place in the years 1919-1920 and then a separate timeline covering 1930-1933. That laid everything out from the beginning. 
          Sitting at the computer once the whole timeline was established, using the screenwriting program Final Draft, I sat in silence as I wrote. At all hours of the day, but nighttime I was most focused. I didn’t listen to music, the only sound in the room was my fingers typing on the keyboard.

What is the summary of your screenplay? A true story of human courage, Pete Mehringer’s (RIGHT and BELOW LEFT) life is the quintessential American dream: born in dirt-poor western Kansas, learns how to wrestle from a book, boxes illegally in the carnival circuit to save his family farm during the Great Depression, hitchhikes to the Olympic Trials and becomes the youngest American of his time to win an Olympic gold.

What’s written above is the logline. The first plot point comes when Pete moves to a big university from a small town in western Kansas; his scholarship depends on continuously winning wrestling matches.

Phog Allen, a pioneer of basketball and the athletics director at the University of Kansas, is a villainous figure. For some unknown reason, he wants Pete to fail. This is superimposed upon in a flashback on the balcony of Allen’s Victorian mansion; the Ku Klux Klan torches a wooden cross on the lawn of Pete’s childhood home, men chanting in conical hats, masks and white robes. They’re protesting against Catholics and immigrants. This is significant because it’s symbolic of all the incredible difficulty our protagonist is up against.
Labeling Worthy of Gold a “sports drama” or “sports movie” is inaccurate. It’s about a young man who is a wrestler, but it’s not about wrestling. So much more happens in the story besides wrestling, to the point where you could take that out and put in a completely separate element and it would be very similar.

Please include just one excerpt.  This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.

INT. THE ROBINSON GYMNASIUM - WEIGHT ROOM - DAY (1931)

MOVE IN on a door sheathed with bronze, towering so high it could be the very gate to King Solomon’s temple. It incrementally opens. Hinges CREAK and the doors separate to unmask the first crack of light:

Revealing—

A 1930s weight room and gym.

The place is so worn with grime we can smell the stench from years of sweat. Soft afternoon light filters in from a high bank of windows, contrasting with the din of CLANKING metal and macho camaraderie.

The SOUND of HEAVY BREATHING, THUDDING BASKETBALLS, and VIBRATING BELT MACHINES makes this gym come alive as we float inside. Basketball players, wrestlers, sprinters and trainers sway back and forth like snakes amid the loudness and thickness of steam.

On the wall is a banner that reads: “Pay Heed, All Who Enter: BEWARE OF THE PHOG.” Pete enters the gym, dressed to work out. As he walks, many ATHLETES greet him.

Men are bench pressing, curling, doing push-ups, sit-ups and stretches on a floor scattered with canvas mats.

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write?  And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? *and humor is one of many emotions. This is one of the most revealing excerpts in the script, not because anything substantial happens, but because it establishes an environment that we’re going to keep coming back to. 

          Like Mighty Mick’s Gym in Rocky or The Hit Pit in Million Dollar Baby, The Robinson Gym in Worthy of Gold has its own atmosphere that’s special to the story.
Has this screenplay been made into a film? And if NOT which actors would you like to portray your characters in this screenplay? It was optioned by a producer, but he failed to get it made. Because of some life challenges, I took a break from pursuing filmmaking Now that I write for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, I’m meeting all kinds of people and could see myself crossing paths with someone who could make Worthy of Gold along with other projects. 

          As far as an actor I could see playing Pete, it used to be Jake Gyllenhaal but he’s too old now. The adult version of him in the film is between the ages of twenty and twenty-two. Now probably Tom Holland or Alexander Ludwig. For Frances, the romantic interest, I could see Emma Stone or Emmy Rossum.

How many pages?  What does that equate to how long the film would be? 119 pages so a minute shy of two hours.



Michael Lee Simpson is a multi award-winning writer with accolades in some of the top film festivals and contests in the entertainment industry. He was a semifinalist and quarterfinalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, as well as winner in the Austin Film Festival and Worldfest Houston for his historical drama, Worthy of Gold.

In addition to working as an optioned screenwriter, script consultant, ghostwriter, published author, film critic and magazine editor, he branched out to explore other ventures as a photographer, editor, graphic designer, short film director and video engineer for IMAX.
          His book and screenplay about the untold story of Judy Garland, Lost on the Yellow Brick Road, was published by Troika Publishing; co-written by Michael Selsman, (http://michaelselsman.com/) former agent to Garland and legends such as Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and Truman Capote.

              Michael also served as a film critic for NightlifeKC and The Kansas City Star, an editor for Ocala Magazine, and is now a contributing writer for Creative Screenwriting Magazine. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas and was born and raised in Kansas City.

Friday, August 28, 2020

Brooke McNamara’s “FOOD AND WATER” is #212 in the never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM


*The images in this specific piece are granted copyright privilege by:  Public Domain, CCSAL, GNU Free Documentation Licenses, Fair Use Under The United States Copyright Law, or given copyright privilege by the copyright holder which is identified beneath the individual photo.

**Some of the links will have to be copied and then posted in your search engine in order to pull up properly

*** The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished poets for BACKSTORY OF THE POEM series.  Contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

***Brooke McNamara’s “FOOD AND WATER” is #212 in the never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific poem and how the poet wrote that specific poem.  All BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links are at the end of this piece. 

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? I often hear poetry when I am meditating. This poem was such a one. I was on zen retreat in Torrey, Utah when I wrote it, where my husband and I have been going for retreat with our teacher and community for a decade. 

          Now our 2 young sons come with us, which makes for more excitement! I wrote this poem as a reflection on the impetus to go on retreat and dive deep into intensive meditation, and the effect that has on everything in my life.
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem?  And please describe the place in great detail. I was in the zendo. It is a gorgeous, traditionally Japanese-style building with intricate beam work in the ceiling, straw mats on the floor, shoji screens for doors, a deep brown wooden altar with a statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva, orchids, candle, and incense, black meditation cushions lined up in a clear grid, and traditional bells. Windows revealed big sky and Boulder mountain.

What month and year did you start writing this poem? August 2016

How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) I believe I had 3 drafts. They were all typed so I don’t have access to a rough copy to photograph.

Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version?  And can you share them with us?  I cut these stanzas from the beginning:

The world becomes so loud so fast, 
and your mind, seduced, loves to follow suit. 
So you pack up the car 
and head through the mountains, 
drive through the desert forever
to arrive, finally, right here. 

And you camp on the air mattress 
deflating all night — 
by morning you feel 
how cold and hard and real
it can be to land 
full-bodied back on earth.”

What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I want readers of this poem to feel a “re-boot” ~ a sense that they’ve reconnected with their breath, with something original in their soul, with the immediacy of sensation in their bodies, and with enduring questions in their hearts. I want them to take away a sense of inherent connection to something unconditional - an “uncaused joy,” which is a joy innate to Being, and does not depend on getting or getting rid of anything at all, but simply of becoming present here and now.

Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The lines “Gently/ allow your heart to hand you/ every last piece/ of who you truly are” were the most emotional to write because they came directly out of an experience in meditation of reintegrating an insecure, attention-seeking part of myself I had banished from my own self-love because I felt ashamed.   
                 Reintegrating that part of myself felt like a great act of compassion and allowed a deep exhale and sense of relief. It takes a lot of energy to keep parts of myself banished from my own heart! (Right:  Brooke's writing space at home)

Has this poem been published before?  And if so where? Yes, in my book BURY THE SEED by Performance Integral (February 8, 2020).






FOOD AND WATER

Sit yourself kindly down
and begin to breathe

with and as
the ache of being,
instead of above it.

Remember your first questions.

Enduring and unanswerable,
they can make you
curiosity again.

Gently,

allow your heart to hand you
every last piece
of who you truly are.

This is the food you’ve been hungry for.

This is the water that will quench.

Softly you dissolve
into an undomesticated friendship
with your world.

Enter into it again/
with that quiet quivering
in your now more-human heart,

and let an uncaused joy
come out of your eyes —
so the others feel it,

so it’s all of ours
to eat and drink and share.

     Brooke McNamara Biography:  “I completed the Falling Awake Life Coach Training in the Bay Area in 2008, and have been serving clients throughout the U.S. ever since. I also offer online classes in mindfulness and creative awakening; explore them here.
Additionally, I hold a BA in Dance and English from Connecticut College, where I graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude, and an MFA in Dance with a focus on somatic studies/ yoga from CU Boulder. I’ve danced professionally for over a decade and toured internationally with LEVYdance (San Francisco), Malashock and Dancers (San Diego), in my own creative work with Lauren Beale, and in the work of many other truly phenomenal choreographers to whom I am artistically indebted and grateful.
     I am now on Faculty at Naropa University in the Yoga Studies department. I’m also co-director with Lauren Beale of Eunice Embodiment, an organization through which we offer cutting edge dance-theater performances, movement education, creative practice labs, and performance salons for the community. 
I have practiced meditation intensively in the Zen tradition for the past eight years, and been empowered by my teacher to instruct others in the art and practice of Zen meditation.
I’m also a poet and published my first book,“Feed Your Vow,” in 2015. I live with my huge-hearted husband and two adorable, wild sons in Boulder, CO.

BACKSTORY OF THE POEM LINKS

001  December 29, 2017
Margo Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”

002  January 08, 2018
Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake Café”

003 January 12, 2018
Barbara Crooker’s “Orange”

004 January 22, 2018
Sonia Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”

005 January 29, 2018
Ellen Foos’s “Side Yard”

006 February 03, 2018
Susan Sundwall’s “The Ringmaster”

007 February 09, 2018
Leslea Newman’s “That Night”

008 February 17, 2018
Alexis Rhone Fancher “June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”

009 February 24, 2018
Charles Clifford Brooks III “The Gift of the Year With Granny”

010 March 03, 2018
Scott Thomas Outlar’s “The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”

011 March 10, 2018
Anya Francesca Jenkins’s “After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”

012  March 17, 2018
Angela Narciso Torres’s “What I Learned This Week”

013 March 24, 2018
Jan Steckel’s “Holiday On ICE”

014 March 31, 2018
Ibrahim Honjo’s “Colors”

015 April 14, 2018
Marilyn Kallett’s “Ode to Disappointment”

016  April 27, 2018
Beth Copeland’s “Reliquary”

017  May 12, 2018
Marlon L Fick’s “The Swallows of Barcelona”

018  May 25, 2018
Juliet Cook’s “ARTERIAL DISCOMBOBULATION”

019  June 09, 2018
Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “Stiletto Killer. . . A Surmise”

020 June 16, 2018
Charles Rammelkamp’s “At Last I Can Start Suffering”

021  July 05, 2018
Marla Shaw O’Neill’s “Wind Chimes”

022 July 13, 2018
Julia Gordon-Bramer’s “Studying Ariel”

023 July 20, 2018
Bill Yarrow’s “Jesus Zombie”

024  July 27, 2018
Telaina Eriksen’s “Brag 2016”

025  August 01, 2018
Seth Berg’s “It is only Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”

026  August 07, 2018
David Herrle’s “Devil In the Details”

027  August 13, 2018
Gloria Mindock’s “Carmen Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”

028  August 21, 2018
Connie Post’s “Two Deaths”

029  August 30, 2018
Mary Harwell Sayler’s “Faces in a Crowd”

030 September 16, 2018
Larry Jaffe’s “The Risking Point”

031  September 24, 2018
Mark Lee Webb’s “After We Drove”

032  October 04, 2018
Melissa Studdard’s “Astral”

033 October 13, 2018
Robert Craven’s “I Have A Bass Guitar Called Vanessa”

034  October 17, 2018
David Sullivan’s “Paper Mache Peaches of Heaven”

035 October 23, 2018
Timothy Gager’s “Sobriety”

036  October 30, 2018
Gary Glauber’s “The Second Breakfast”

037  November 04, 2018
Heather Forbes-McKeon’s “Melania’s Deaf Tone Jacket”

038 November 11, 2018
Andrena Zawinski’s “Women of the Fields”

039  November 00, 2018
Gordon Hilger’s “Poe”

040 November 16, 2018
Rita Quillen’s “My Children Question Me About Poetry” and “Deathbed Dreams”

041 November 20, 2018
Jonathan Kevin Rice’s “Dog Sitting”

042 November 22, 2018
Haroldo Barbosa Filho’s “Mountain”

043  November 27, 2018
Megan Merchant’s “Grief Flowers”

044 November 30, 2018
Jonathan P Taylor’s “This poem is too neat”

045  December 03, 2018
Ian Haight’s “Sungmyo for our Dead Father-in-Law”

046 December 06, 2018
Nancy Dafoe’s “Poem in the Throat”

047 December 11, 2018
Jeffrey Pearson’s “Memorial Day”

048  December 14, 2018
Frank Paino’s “Laika”

049  December 15, 2018
Jennifer Martelli’s “Anniversary”

O50  December 19, 2018
Joseph Ross’s For Gilberto Ramos, 15, Who Died in the Texas Desert, June 2014”

051 December 23, 2018
“The Persistence of Music”
by Anatoly Molotkov

052  December 27, 2018
“Under Surveillance”
by Michael Farry

053  December 28, 2018
“Grand Finale”
by Renuka Raghavan

054  December 29, 2018
“Aftermath”
by Gene Barry

055 January 2, 2019
“&”
by Larissa Shmailo

056  January 7, 2019
“The Seamstress:
by Len Kuntz

057  January 10, 2019
"Natural History"
by Camille T Dungy

058  January 11, 2019
“BLOCKADE”
by Brian Burmeister

059  January 12, 2019
“Lost”
by Clint Margrave

060 January 14, 2019
“Menopause”
by Pat Durmon

061 January 19, 2019
“Neptune’s Choir”
by Linda Imbler

062  January 22, 2019
“Views From the Driveway”
by Amy Barone

063  January 25, 2019
“The heron leaves her haunts in the marsh”
by Gail Wronsky

064  January 30, 2019
“Shiprock”
by Terry Lucas

065 February 02, 2019
“Summer 1970, The University of Virginia Opens to Women in the Fall”
by Alarie Tennille

066 February 05, 2019
“At School They Learn Nouns”
by Patrick Bizzaro

067  February 06, 2019
“I Must Not Breathe”
by Angela Jackson-Brown

068 February 11, 2019
“Lunch on City Island, Early June”
by Christine Potter

069 February 12, 2019
“Singing”
by Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum

070 February 14, 2019
“Daily Commute”
by Christopher P. Locke

071 February 18, 2019
“How Silent The Trees”
by Wyn Cooper

072 February 20, 2019
“A New Psalm of Montreal”
by Sheenagh Pugh

073 February 23, 2019
“Make Me A Butterfly”
by Amy Barbera

074 February 26, 2019
“Anthem”
by Sandy Coomer

075 March 4, 2019
“Shape of a Violin”
by Kelly Powell

076 March 5, 2019
“Inward Oracle”
by J.P. Dancing Bear

077 March 7, 2019
“I Broke My Bust Of Jesus”
by Susan Sundwall

078 March 9, 2019
“My Mother at 19”
by John Guzlowski

079 March 10, 2019
“Paddling”
by Chera Hammons Miller

080 March 12, 2019
“Of Water and Echo”
by Gillian Cummings

081   082   083    March 14, 2019
“Little Political Sense”   “Crossing Kansas with Jim
Morrison”  “The Land of Sky and Blue Waters”
by Dr. Lindsey Martin-Bowen

084 March 15, 2019
“A Tune To Remember”
by Anna Evans

085 March 19, 2019
“At the End of Time (Wish You Were Here)
by Jeannine Hall Gailey

086 March 20, 2019
“Garden of Gethsemane”
by Marletta Hemphill

087 March 21, 2019
“Letters From a War”
by Chelsea Dingman

088 March 26, 2019
“HAT”
by Bob Heman

089 March 27, 2019
“Clay for the Potter”
by Belinda Bourgeois

#090 March 30, 2019
“The Pose”
by John Hicks

#091 April 2, 2019
“Last Night at the Wursthaus”
by Doug Holder

#092 April 4, 2019
“Original Sin”
by Diane Lockward

#093 April 5, 2019
“A Father Calls to his child on liveleak”
by Stephen Byrne

#094 April 8, 2019
“XX”
by Marc Zegans

#095 April 12, 2019
“Landscape and Still Life”
by Marjorie Maddox

#096 April 16, 2019
“Strawberries Have Been Growing Here for Hundreds of
Years”
by Mary Ellen Lough

#097 April 17, 2019
“The New Science of Slippery Surfaces”
by Donna Spruijt-Metz

#098 April 19, 2019
“Tennessee Epithalamium”
by Alyse Knorr

#099 April 20, 2019
“Mermaid, 1969”
by Tameca L. Coleman

#100 April 21, 2019
“How Do You Know?”
by Stephanie

#101 April 23, 2019
“Rare Book and Reader”
by Ned Balbo

#102 April 26, 2019
“THUNDER”
by Jefferson Carter

#103 May 01, 2019
“The sight of a million angels”
by Jenneth Graser

#104 May 09, 2019
“How to tell my dog I’m dying”
by Richard Fox

#105 May 17, 2019
“Promises Had Been Made”
by Sarah Sarai

#106 June 01, 2019
“i sold your car today”
by Pamela Twining

#107 June 02, 2019
“Abandoned Stable”
by Nancy Susanna Breen

#108 June 05, 2019
“Cupcake”
by Julene Tripp Weaver

#109 June 6, 2019
“Bobby’s Story”
by Jimmy Pappas

#110 June 10, 2019
“When You Ask Me to Tell You About My Father”
by Pauletta Hansel

#111 Backstory of the Poem’s
“Cemetery Mailbox”
by Jennifer Horne

#112 Backstory of the Poem’s
“Relics”
by Kate Peper

#113 Backstory of the Poem’s
“Q”
by Jennifer Johnson

#114 Backstory of the Poem’s
“Brushing My Hair”
by Tammika Dorsey Jones

#115 Backstory of the Poem
“Because the Birds Will Survive, Too”
by Katherine Riegel

#116 Backstory of the Poem
“DIVORCE”
by Joan Barasovska

#117 Backstory of the Poem
“NEW YEAR”S EVE 2016”
by Michael Meyerhofer

#118 Backstory of the Poem
“Dear the estranged,”
by Gina Tron

#119 Backstory of the Poem
“In Remembrance of Them”
by Janet Renee Cryer

#120 Backstory of the Poem
“Horse Fly Grade Card, Doesn’t Play Well With Others”
by David L. Harrison

#121 Backstory of the Poem
“My Mother’s Cookbook”
by Rachael Ikins

#122 Backstory of the Poem
“Cousins I Never Met”
by Maureen Kadish Sherbondy

#123 Backstory of the Poem
“To Those Who Were Our First Gods”
by Nickole Brown

#124 Backstory of the Poem
“Looking For Sunsets (In the Early Morning)”
by Paul Levinson

#125 Backstory of the Poem
“Tracy”
by Tiff Holland

#126 Backstory of the Poem
“Legs”
by Cindy Hochman

#127 Backstory of the Poem
“Anathema”
by Natasha Saje

#128 Backstory of the Poem
“How to Explain Fertility When an Acquaintance Asks Casually”
by Allison Blevins

#129 Backstory of the Poem
“The Art of Meditation In Tennessee”
by Linda Parsons

#130 Backstory of the Poem
“Schooling High, In Beslan”
by Satabdi Saha

#131 Backstory of the Poem
“Baby Jacob survives the Oso Landslide, 2014”
by Amie Zimmerman

#132 Backstory of the Poem
“Our Age of Anxiety”
by Henry Israeli

#133 Backstory of the Poem
“Earth Cries; Heaven Smiles”
by Ken Allan Dronsfield

#134  Backstory of the Poem
“Eons”
by Janine Canan

#135 Backstory of the Poem
“Sworn”
by Catherine Zickgraf

#136 Backstory of the Poem
“Bushwick Blue”
by Susana H. Case

#137 Backstory of the Poem
“Then She Was Forever”
by Paula Persoleo

#138 Backstory of the Poem
“Enough”
by Kris Bigalk

#139 Backstory of the Poem
“From Ghosts of the Upper Floor”
by Tony Trigilio

#140 Backstory of the Poem
“Cloud Audience”
by Wanita Zumbrunnen

#141 Backstory of the Poem
“Condition Center”
by Matthew Freeman

#142 Backstory of the Poem
“Adventuresome Woman”
by Cheryl Suchors

#143 Backstory of the Poem
“The Way Back”
by Robert Walicki

#144 Backstory of the Poem
“If I Had Three Lives”
by Sarah Russell

#145 Backstory of the Poem
“Reservoir”
by Andrea Rexilius

#146 Backstory of the Poem
“The Night Before Our Dog Died”
by Melissa Fite Johnson

#147 Backstory of the Poem
“Pileated”
by David Anthony Sam

#148 Backstory of the Poem
“A Kitchen Argument”
by Matthew Gwathmey

#149 Backstory of the Poem
“Insulation”
by Bruce Kauffman

#150 Backstory of the Poem
“I Will Tell You Where I’ve Been”
by Justin Hamm

#151 Backstory of the Poem
“Comfort”
by Michael A Griffith

#152 Backstory of the Poem
“VAN GOGH TO HIS MISTRESS”
by Margo Taft Stever


#153 Backstory of the Poem
“1. Girl”
by Margaret Manuel

#154 Backstory of the Poem
“Trading Places”
by Maria Chisolm

#155 Backstory of the Poem
“The Reoccurring Woman”
by Debra May

#156 Backstory of the Poem
“Word Falling”
by Sheryl St. Germain

#157 Backstory of the Poem
“Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup of 7,000 Jews Detained in an
Arena”
by Liz Marlow

#158 Backstory of the Poem
“Why Otters Hold Hands”
by William Walsh

#159 Backstory of the Poem
“The Invisible World”
by Rocco de Giacoma

#160 Backstory of the Poem
“Last Call”
by Ralph Culver

#161 Backstory of the Poem
“ALIVE”
by David Dephy

#162 Backstory of the Poem
“Mare Nostrum”
by Janice D Soderling

#163 Backstory of the Poem
“Winnipeg Noir”
by Carmelo Militano

#164 Backstory of the Poem
“Needlepoint Roses”
by Jason O’Toole

#165 Backstory of the Poem
“Singing, Studying on Whiteness, This Penelope Strings”
by Jeanne Larsen

#166 Backstory of the Poem
“How To Befriend Uncertainty”
by Prartho Sereno

#167 Backstory of the Poem
“Shostakovich: Five Pieces”
by Pamela Uschuk

#168 Backstory of the Poem
“Bouquet for Amy Clampitt”
by Peter Kline

#169 Backstory of the Poem
“Heartbroken”
by Catherine Arra

#170 Backstory of the Poem
“Silence – a lost art”
by Megha Sood

#171 Backstory of the Poem/ May 09, 2020
“Horribly Dull”
by Mark DeCharmes

#172 Backstory of the Poem/ May 12, 2020
“Celebrating His Ninety-Second Birthday the Year his Wife Died”
by Michael Mark

#173 Backstory of the Poem/ May 14, 2020
“Night Clouds in the Black Hills”
by Cameron Morse

#174 Backstory of the Poem/ May 18, 2020
“I’ve Been In Heaven For Long”
by Evanesced Dethroned Angel

#175 Backstory of the Poem/ May 20, 2020
“Tutti-Frutti”
by Barbara Crooker

#176 and #177 Backstory of the Poem/ May 25, 2020
“My Small World” and
“My Mistake”
by Tina Barry

#178 Backstory of the Poem/ June 05, 2020
“Against Numbers”
by Andrea Potos

#179 Backstory of the Poem/ June 15, 2020
“Wish”
by Julie Weiss

#180 Backstory of the Poem/ June 20, 2020
“The Tree That Stood Beside Me”
by Carly My Loper

#181 Backstory of the Poem/ June 23, 2020
“Electric Mail”
by Julie E. Bloemeke

#182 Backstory of the Poem
June 24, 2020
“Her First Ten Days”
by Julieta Corpus

#183 Backstory of the Poem
June 26, 2020
“Outside My House Is A Guava Tree”
by Dr. Ampat Varghese Koshy

#184 Backstory of the Poem
July 2, 2020
“Torpor”
by Victor Enns

#185 Backstory of the Poem
July 5, 2020
“A Way of Life”
by Dan Provost

#186 Backstory of the Poem
July 6, 2020
“The Alabama Wiregrassers”
by Charles Ghigna

#186 Backstory of the Poem
July 6, 2020
“The Alabama Wiregrassers”
by Charles Ghigna

#187 Backstory of the Poem
July 7, 2020
“The Seer”
by Kathleen Winter

#188 Backstory of the Poem
July 11, 2020
“Stuck At Home”
by Valerie Frost

#189 Backstory of the Poem
July 13, 2020
“Between the Earth and Sky”
by Eleanor Kedney

#190 Backstory of the Poem
July 14, 2020
ΜΕΡΕΣ  ΥΠΟΜΟΝΗΣ/ Days
of patience” 
by Eftichia Kapardell’

#191 Backstory of the Poem
July 15, 2020
Threnody by the President for Victims of COVID-19, Beginning with a Line from Milosz”
by Ralph Culver

#192 Backstory of the Poem
July 16, 2020
“Will Be Done”
by Tom Hunley

#193 Backstory of the Poem
July 17, 2020
“The Love of Two Trees”
by Hussein Habasch

#194 Backstory of the Poem
July 18, 2020
“June Almeida”
by Lev RI Ardiansyah

#195 Backstory of the Poem
July 19. 2020
“After Grano Maturo”
by Matthew Gavin Frank

#196 Backstory of the Poem
July 20, 2020
“Practice”
by Linda Neal Reising

#197 Backstory of the Poem
July 21, 2020
“Will Be Done”
by Tom C Hunley

#198 Backstory of the Poem
July 22, 2020
“Shroud”
by Ted Morrissey

#199 Backstory of the Poem
July 23, 2020
“Being In Love at Fifty”
by Anne Walsh Donnelly

#200 Backstory of the Poem
July 25, 2020
“Star pinwheel poem”
by Andrea Watson

#201 Backstory of the Poem
July 30, 2020
“Gentle Women, Adult Female Persons, and Housewives in Indonesia
by Kimberly Burnham

#202 Backstory of the Poem
July 31, 2020
“192”
by Don Yorty

#203  Backstory of the Poem
August 01, 2020
“I want to unfold the disease”
by Vanessa Shields

#204 Backstory of the Poem
August 06, 2020
“A Bone of Contention with the Ghost of John Lennon Over Strawberry Fields Forever”
by Ruth Weinstein

#205 Backstory of the Poem
August 07 2020
“Statement by the Pedestrian Liberation Organisation”
by Thomas McColl

#206 Backstory of the Poem
August 08 2020

Un Poco Pequeño”

by Damon Chua

#207 Backstory of the Poem
August 10, 2020
“mary lou williams’s piano workshop (after Fred Moten)”
by Makalani Bandele

#208 Backstory of the Poem
August 18, 2020
“Roll Credits by KCK”
by Casey Kirkpatrick aka KCK

#209 Backstory of the Poem
August 21, 2020
“Ancient Pyramid”
by Mark Tulin

#210 Backstory of the Poem
August 23, 2020
“How Far the Strom?”
by Charles Malone

#211 Backstory of the Poem
August 27, 2020
“89 Tears”
by Robert Carr

#212 Backstory of the Poem
August 28, 2020
“Food and Water”
by Brooke McNamara