PATIENCE (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
AAKRITI KUNTAL: I read a poem on earthworms.
PATIENCE: Like, each line on a different worm?
KUNTAL: I read the letters in the sky.
PATIENCE: Uh…like the Worm Signal?
WORMS: I am held by flashes of / frangipani in Delhi that were but chords of / rain.
If you give a squid a squeegee,
he’ll wipe the windows of your submarine
while you’re stopped at a traffic signal.
If a squid wipes your windows
he will expect a tip.
If you give a squid a tip
he’ll need a pocket to put it in
If you give a squid a squeegee
he’ll wipe the windows of your submarine
while you’re stopped at a traffic signal.
WOMAN WALKING DUCK: New Pet?
WOMAN WALKING KANGAROO: It has pockets!
KIM (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
RITA DOVE (caller): If you don’t look back, the future never happens.
KIM: Strange. I think I’d remember that.
from “Dawn Revisited” by Rita Dove.
NEF (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
ETHERIDGE KNIGHT (caller): Soft songs, like birds, die in poison air.
NEF: Right. Maybe stop singing until you’re out of the gas?
KNIGHT: So my song cannot now be candy.
NEF: Not unless you want to eat your words.
Adapted from “Apology for Apostasy?” by Etheridge Knight
The Tragic Valentines of William Shakespeare:
Hamlet
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
To be? Not to be?
Which one should I do?
In thy orisons be all my sins remembered, valentine!
Cordelia
Daisies are pressed
Under a shoe,
Words can’t express
My love for you.
Lord M*****h
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Is this a dagger
That points me to you?
Shylock
Your blood is red,
My blood is too,
If you prick me, I bleed
Exactly like you.
The Weyard Sisters
Swamp grass is tall, toadstools are cute,
The recipe calls for more eye of newt.
I’ll meet you in thunder, lightning, or in rain, valentine!
Othello
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Trust you almost as much
As some guy on my crew.
Romeo
Roses are cut.
We have to set limits:
I’ll die for you, but
I won’t wait five minutes.
JERRY (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
RICHARD EBERHART (caller): In June, among the golden fields I saw a groundhog lying dead.
JERRY: But did you see his shadow?
PATIENCE (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
JOYCE SIDMAN (caller): Why should your black silk ears feel like happiness?
PATIENCE: Um…that’s awfully personal…and…honestly, I’m not so sure they should.
From “Dog in Bed,” by Joyce Sidman
ROSIE (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
CHARLES SIMIC (caller): What I need is a seraph and a pig.
ROSIE: Uh…okay. Care to elaborate?
SIMIC: The pig to eat and the seraph to ask questions.
ROSIE: Like whether it’s OK to eat pork?
From “Back at the Chicken Shack” by Charles Simic
Rest in peace, Charles Simic (1938-2023)