Johnathon Williams | johnwilliams
Maker of Swindle, editor of Linebreak. Oh, and I write a little, too.
Member since Dec 31, 1969
Johnathon's favorite poems on Swindle (139) (rss)
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- Poem Beginning with a Line by Frank Lima | Lisa Jarnot
- Lovely use of repetition.
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- Seasonal Anxiety
- Clever light verse on the difference in perspective between the academic and calendar years. Now that I'm finished with the MFA, I wonder how long until the fall no longer feels like a beginning?
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- C. K. Williams: “Exhaust.”
- A poem of family and death and cars. A bit circuitous, and the workshop crowd would say (rightly, I think) that it doesn't really get going until stanza 7, but good nonetheless.
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- The One Certain Thing by Peter Cooley
- A poem as quiet as an assassin -- by the time you're aware of its passing, the knife is already in.
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- Mule Hour | Terrance Hayes
- A whip cracking fever dream of a poem.
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- You Can't Have It All | Barbara Ras
- Beautiful list poem, although I want to nix the final line break.
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- I Have News for You by Tony Hoagland
- As most of my friends are writers, I've spent far too little time around the people described in this poem.
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- "Color Theory" by Eric Leigh
- Skillful movement from the light and domestic to the heavy and universal. Also, birds.
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- Transmission from the Rogue Astronaut
- The world needs more poems set in outer space.
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- HEREDITIES (I) ETYMOLOGY
- Illness as metaphor.
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- Death of a Naturalist
- Classic Heaney.
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- Ajar in Tennessee
- Poem from one of my MFA profs. Always masterful, and always delightfully weird.
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- Youth by James Wright
- For Father's Day.
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- PHOTOGRAPHER
- Beautiful poem by Claudia Emerson.
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- "Breasts Like Martinis" by Jill McDonough
- Funny and surprising, a welcome addition to a dour Tuesday morning.
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- Self-Employed
- Wonderful use of the title as a metaphor. Some days I'd like to fire myself, too.
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- Question by May Swenson
- Incredible poem.
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- SCARY, NO SCARY
- One of the creepiest poems I've ever read. Well done.
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- "Prayer for the Man Who Mugged My Father, 72" by Charles Harper Webb
- Love the use of rhyme in the last two lines.
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- “I Will Away,” a Rumpus Original Poem by Keetje Kuipers
- Terrific use of a loose refrain.
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- DRUNK
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When William Blake came fashionably late to parties he’d blame it on archangels, prophecies broadcast between the leaves of ordinary trees in the orchard: those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained…
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- Choir by Bruce Bond
- Breathtaking poem by Bruce Bond.
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- Condolence Note: Los Angeles
- A poem of iPods, etiquette, and loss.
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- MARRIAGE PANTS
- A fun poem for the dreadful emergency that is each and every Monday morning.
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- Praying Drunk
- An amazing poem deftly written in blank verse.
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- Don’t Die Alone in a Nuclear Holocaust, Bitter Flower
- I like everything but the final clause. Of course these words will pass away.
