We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
After the Flood
Only babies slept through the howling winds.
Morning finds the madman absent from his post,
though his bicycle bell keeps ringing.
The South is worse than the North; in some
quarters, no lights. It’s also bad in Central,
where for now, the shooting has stopped.
Tomorrow the clinics will reopen. Cancer patients
will wait nervously for their chemo, observing
the lines, where the water came up to.
And a badjohn looking to settle a score will hear
that the man’s child has died, and he’ll help him
kill the snake found under his bed instead.
• • •
The Fight
for Keith and Ansil
The ad at Barclays Center is for
a fight between Deontay Wilder
and Luis Ortiz, and I thought, you
guys would have liked to catch this,
arguing who had the uppercut,
who had the better swing, but
that against Ali, neither would’ve
stood a chance. So it is with you
followers of the fight game:
the lacing up of the gloves, the
referee, the ringside crowd.
The sign has me thinking now
about how Ansil must have gone
headfirst down those basement
steps, his grandson yelling, Get up,
Grandpa, get up! The way we call
for the champ to get up, while the
corner man, who knows better,
says, Stay down, son, stay down,
a bet none of us would have won.
Mervyn Taylor is a Trinidad-born poet currently residing in Brooklyn. A retired teacher, his most recent collection of poetry is Voices Carry (Shearsman Books, 2017).
Contributions from readers enable us to provide a public space, free and open, for the discussion of ideas. Join this effort – become a supporting reader today.
Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox. Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter, Monthly Roundup, and event notifications.
In his new book, philosopher William MacAskill implies that humanity’s long-term survival matters more than preventing short-term suffering and death. His arguments are shaky.
In her new book, Danish poet Olga Ravn writes with open love, pity, and compassion for her strange yet familiar creations.
Draconian individual punishment distracts from systemic change and reinforces the cruelest and most racist system of incarceration on the planet.
A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975. Registered 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more about our mission