Emma Hanks

Summer Creek

stumbling down dry-leaf trails on summer creek
— I dare not touch the water.
fish scales dry on sandy dunes,
on jagged banks like druid runes,
the smell is harsh, … Read more

Holiday

the day
     is in danger of passing without wickedness
                –Frank O’Hara, “Washington Square”

let’s hope tomorrow’s the day
when the substitute newscasters have nothing to say

when everybody everywhere … Read more

On Time

Each night, as the world sleeps, I think. Of Time. Of men and women. Boys and girls. Battleships and battlefields. Wounds that do not heal. Of them — the crochet … Read more

Miracle

Life lies cocooned, amidst
collapsed concrete and mangled steel;
Breathing, sighing, waiting;
Hungry, helpless, wailing…
The dead surround by hundreds,
Thousands, tens of thousands

Yet, a new life lies cocooned,… Read more

Ask Your Doctor About

Torn between the vault toilet in one direction and a trail in the other, I, too, want to choose adventure. I want to hike and wander and frolic, intestines weightless, … Read more

Spy Balloon

 

So, it has come to this:
the sky is filled with treacherous
balloons from the Far East
and I thought the Hindenburg age
had passed

Did you know
that … Read more

Anointed

 for Tyre Nichols

Because they did not see his crown
Because we see it now
Another nobody heading somewhere
Cornered not too far from home
Though farther from than ever… Read more

NIGHTMARE

 after “We Lived Happily During the War” by Ilya Kaminsky

We sent pop guns, but not
the right kind.

We sent firehoses, but too late
to help.

In our shiny … Read more

Homelessness in Denver

 

Amidst the bustling streets, where life moves fast,
There walks a man who’s been living in the past.
With an intimate knowledge of Denver’s roads,
He’s spent eleven years … Read more

Housewife-Poets

Image by Vicki Whicker

There she is with the coffee
Always the coffee
Bitter

And so much to drink
And drink it she must
After all she paid for it… Read more

On Pilot Lights

The first time I saw a fire’s flame, I stood on the second floor of a third-story row home in my favorite place – my grandmother’s kitchen. The small space … Read more

This Poem’s the GOAT

It is what it is which isn’t
as obvious as it might seem.
Could be your answer
if you’re being cross-
examined for doing the right thing
such as leaving … Read more