You think Oscar Wilde was funny
well Darling I think he was busy
distracting straight people
so they would not kill him.

—CAConrad, a 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize winner.

CW: strong language bit.ly/459GmrH

Please forgive the delay in publishing this month's issue on the Poetry Foundation website while it undergoes some updates.

Now is a great time to use our app! Get a one-year digital subscription for only $14.99 and take POETRY with you wherever you go! 📱 bit.ly/45jtm2u

I used to think if I could only concentrate hard enough
I could be the one person to feel what no one else could,
sense a small tug from the ground, a sky shift, the earth changing gears.

—Happy birthday to Denise Duhamel! 🎉 bit.ly/3VwVnAH

Even the buzzards stop and reconsider.
And the current
carries a fleet of crinkled beer cans

toward us. Did they see
you kiss me?

—RK Fauth bit.ly/4bQ8JgQ

How easily you held
my hand
beside the low tide
of the world.

—June Jordan, selected by #PoemOfTheDay guest editor Sarah Ruhl. bit.ly/4bMlPvP

How to bear the weight, with every
flake of bone pressed in. Then, how to bear when
the weight is gone, the way a woman
whose neck has been coiled with brass
can no longer hold it up alone.

—Ellen Bass with our #PoemOfTheDay .
CW: graphic imagery bit.ly/3XbfBRs

On the latest episode of #PoetryOffTheShelf , Elisa Gonzalez speaks with host Helena de Groot on bisexuality, humor, and working in finance.

Listen here: bit.ly/4cwOPYv

The Poetry Foundation honors the Chicago Poetry Center’s (Chicago Poetry Center) 50th anniversary with an exhibition of archival materials, a documentary film premiere, and live readings and performances from CPC poets.

Learn more: bit.ly/45p3oL5

In the life before this one, you could tell
two people were in love
because when they drove the pickup
over the bridge, their wings
would grow back just in time.

—Ocean Vuong bit.ly/4c9stf4

Poet Laureate avery r. young will lead a lineup that includes Nora Brooks Blakely, Reginald Gibbons, Niveah Glover, Adrian Matejka, Marc Smith, and Jamila Woods. Lynne Thompson will lead a conversation with Smith at the end of the program.

Learn more: chicagoliteraryhof.org/events_entry/f…

tonite i wuld luv to rite the mothe inn the guarden / 2 greev it / & as a mater off forme / did u kno not a monthe goes bye / a tran i kno doesnt dye / just shye off 27.

—Jos Charles bit.ly/4aIhrN1

All day long my heart trembles like a leaf.
All alone at midnight, where did that beloved go?

Go to the road, and ask any passing traveler — 
That soul-stirring companion, where did he go?

—Rumi, trans. by Brad Gooch and Maryam Mortaz. #PoemOfTheDay bit.ly/3V3ZeU8

Words are an illusion
are vibrations of air
Fabricating senselessness
He has shattered gates
thrown open to himself.

—Happy birthday to Susan Howe, who was born #OnThisDay in 1937. 🎂 bit.ly/4dYEy8S

My hell is no worse than yours
though you pass among the flowers and speak
with the spirits above earth.

—H.D. selected by #PoemOfTheDay guest editor Sarah Ruhl. bit.ly/453Yao7

On the day I set out on the climb,
grief saddled in my back like a bag of marbles,
my breath like clouds hanging on the low peaks of a mountain,
on the day I set out.

—Clifton Gachagua with the #PoemOfTheDay . bit.ly/4e1rHTb

Nonprofit organizations, join us for a webinar on Thursday, July 18 to learn how to apply for funding through our grants program.

We are currently accepting applications until September 4, 2024.

Learn more and register: bit.ly/3x6MJzc

To assist publishers impacted by the abrupt closure of Small Press Distribution (SPD), the Poetry Foundation has established a bridge fund for small presses to help cover unanticipated costs.

Learn about eligibility and how to apply! bit.ly/3Ri6vi7

Sometimes now, we dream our way back to the heron dance.
Their long wings are bending the air
into circles through which they fall.

—Happy birthday to Louise Erdrich, who was born #OnThisDay 70 years ago. 🎂
bit.ly/3wVrOPw

And he said: you pretty full of yourself ain’t chu

so she replied: show me someone not full of herself
and i’ll show you a hungry person.

—Happy birthday to Nikki Giovanni! 🎉 #PoemOfTheDay . bit.ly/3X88DfY