Poets dole their words out onto the page very carefully—but that doesn’t mean they don’t have fun in the process! Peter Pereira, poet and avid Scrabble player, shows us how anagrams can lead to revelation, while Alice Jones artfully mixes phrases from a rich panoply of sources, including Sesame Street, Macbeth, and Plato. In a quiter voice, Gregory Orr offers a tender meditation on the word yes. And Mexican poet David Huerta reminds us of the great democracy of words, from “short and decisive” ones to those simply held “in the velvety net of memory.”
Peter Pereira
Body Talk
Do knees need to kneel? Do toes toe or tow the line?
David Huerta
Before Saying Any of the Great Words
Other words are like art for art’s sake.
Alice Jones
Spell
A hexagram predicts the future, a hex holds you.
Gregory Orr
If to Say It Once
Now only the single syllable that is the beloved.
