Amanda Dzimianski
Choosing this poem was an appropriately synchronistic experience. I knew that I wanted to try some response/analysis writing, but hadn’t made a decision about what poet or piece to leap into first. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Time does not bring relief; you all have lied” crossed my path during, of all things, a rare scroll … Read more
I’m doing something new this April for National Poetry Month. Throughout the next few weeks—maybe beyond, we’ll see—I’ll be sharing essays in response to poetry I’ve read. I don’t know how long they’ll be. I don’t know all the poems I’ll be responding to. I don’t know all the reasons, exactly, of why I’m doing … Read more
an excerpt from an article published April 9, 2024 atThe Gladis Publication I’ll tell you the truth: I’ve grown tired of hope. Hope has felt like a threadbare concept, worn thin by the traffic of too many expectations. Or worse, a word that embodies wishful thinking disconnected from the harsh, heavy pain of the world. … Read more
poem // originally posted on Instagram, Sept. 16, 2023 tell mewhen you went to the oceanwhat did you let hererasefrom your sands? i scratchedmy fearsinto glass grainsand fed themto her fury i spreadmy inheritance of shameacross ravaged shoresand let herswallow it jagged i carvedmy neversout of lost coastlinesand watched herfeast tell me…when you went to … Read more
poem // originally published on Instagram, Nov 19, 2022 anchorsalways come with chains and you’ve lost yours the weights of doubthave dissolvedwithin a seaof uncertainty the same waves that battercan also buoyyou so swimamong the sharksmineral lustfor taste of metal you’re not bleedinganymore
poem // originally published on Instagram, Nov 17 2022 [fernweh is a German term for ‘wanderlust’] i sang the songsmuddied melodymixed with crystallinedesire the lust to wanderi am learningis a wantingfrom the solesof the soulto be at homewithin funnyhow we fight it sub out a salacityfor a place we’ve never been(and i think we’ll never … Read more
i drove downthose backbone roadstoday, the onesleading to the doorswhere freedomis promised on the dailybut never delivered i watched the demonsdance with sun-slant shadows heard their whisperswafting along the woven edgesof memories the sounds surgedwhitecapping along thefringe of bannerswaving in the chillbreath of autumn dead,dead leavesdying on top of the earthwithout the dignity of burial … Read more
poem //first published on Instagram, Nov 12, 2022 goneare the dayswhen we wroteeverythingin blood inscribingevery lastblinkin epic eternalpermanenceink-rich andimmutable what luxuryand releaseto writefinallyin pencil
you didn’t see itdid you? that heavy haulthat I worethat wore meout ripstopand weatherproofand politelypreservedgenerationaftergen er ation hey. just becauseyou did not detect itdoes not meanit never existed and I didn’t ask youto shoulder it for meeven thoughyou laid it on me and I didn’t ask youto leave your ownprecious cargobehind and I didn’t ask … Read more
poem // originally posted on Instagram, Nov. 8 2022, as part of a prompt series provided for subscribers. i thought about writing you a nice poem something about fluffy cloudsfloating past the plane windowwords i could wrap up neatlywith a smooth, velvet ribbon but then i remembered how i asked to take a napafter crossing … Read more