In celebration of the poetry featured in this issue of Radar Poetry, we have constructed a found poem using lines from each poem in the issue. Isn’t it just amazing to consider the power of written words? What a pleasure it is for us to share the work of these poets with you. And to showcase visual art by a curated group of brilliant creative minds.

Happy Dog Days of Summer!

Rachel Marie Patterson and Dara-Lyn Shrager, Editors

Issue 19

In other words, I place my heart in the hornet’s nest.

Who hasn’t been soothed
              by heat?

 Turn a country over
               and see how it’s made.

your greatest childhood dilemma
solved for an instant—   
you are both bird and fish!

I open the book and the memory
            swims like astronomy. 

I see the surgeon’s hands
and the paper moth
which he pulls from my skull

I approach
a mussel, opening the shell to show the ridges of
its dog-lips.

as if I wear
summer and the flesh
I dig at
would do anything
but flinch when held

when i am thirsty from a day of work, that river snakes my spine again

Sea. See,
we are not alone in our sorrow.

I don’t know what to do
with this unfamiliar shade,
this head full of sagging flowers.

Dying seasons should not
be so beautiful—
            carcasses
glimmer in emerald flame

In the garden, we pollinate by hand,
brushing squash blossoms together, anther
to anther.

Hyacinth is two faces of unequal blush turned away from each other

Maybe it’s a launchpad. Maybe it’s where you go
            when you are finally ready to leave something behind.

 

 

 

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