DPF / Tate

For lost fathers, for ours would have been 83 now, had he just skipped or flown over this day 26 years ago, from Selected Poems.

from The Lost Pilot / by James Tate

However frightening, I would
discover you, and I would not

turn you in; I would not make
you face your wife, or Dallas, or
the co-pilot, Jim. You

could return to your crazy
orbiting, and I would not try
to fully understand what

it means to you.

DPF / Mark

For the world’s oldest animal is watching, from Tsim Tsum.

from The Oldest Animal Writes a Letter Home / by Sabrina Orah Mark

You did no me once, didn’t you? Please send byrds.

DPF / Heaney

For Irish Medieval Literature, from Sweeney Astray, Heaney’s version of Buile Suibhne.

from Sweeney Astray / by Seamus Heaney

The blackthorn is a jaggy creel
stippled with dark sloes;
green watercress in thatch on wells
where the drinking blackbird goes.

 

DPF / Fingston

PIA: from December 2016, for cherubs aren’t just needed in December, from poetryfoundation.org.

from December / by Roger Pfingston

Lodged tight for days
in a corner of the wall,
ladybug can’t resist the tree

DPF / Tate

PIA: January 2014

from The Lost Pilot / by James Tate

and you, passing over again,

fast, perfect, and unwilling
to tell me that you are doing
well

DPF / Seuss

For it seems like a good time for this one, from The Lorax.

from The Lorax / by Dr. Seuss

At the far end of town
where the Grickle-grass grows
and the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows
and no birds ever sing excepting old crows…
is the Street of the Lifted Lorax.

DPF / Pizarro Harman

For Mary. We will miss you so much. While I can’t exactly condone my own action, I looked for a poem to commemorate Mary Tyler Moore’s passing today at 80, and not finding what I wanted, I came back to this; so, please forgive, but this one’s by me. The complete poem is also here: https://michelepizarroharman.com/about/.  From Sycamore Review, Winter/Spring 1997, where it was originally published. The journal’s current website may be found at: http://www.sycamorereview.com/.

from The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Ninth Episode / by Michele Pizarro Harman

Return to the place of new-driven snow. Become again Mary, Scarlett, Eve.

DPF / McPherson

For one of our Elizabeths and for mauve countries and hemispheres, from No More Masks: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Women Poets, edited by Florence Howe.

from For Elizabeth Bishop / by Sandra McPherson

Your smaller admirer off to school,
I take the globe and roll it away; where
On it now is someone like you?

DPF / Sanchez

For the academy in all its versions, from No More Masks: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Women Poets, edited by Florence Howe.

from A Poem for my Most Intelligent 10:30 AM Class / Fall 1985 / by Sonia Sanchez

i had come to this room from other
rooms. footsteps walking from
under my feet. and i saw
your faces eavesdropping on shadows

DPF / Teasdale

For charts and small seas, from No More Masks: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Women Poets, edited by Florence Howe.

from I Might Have Sung of the World / by Sara Teasdale

I might have sung of the world
And said what I heard them say
Of the vast and passing dream
Of today and yesterday.