Dear friends,

These days are emotional. I had Bob (Hicok) visit the undergrad creative writing class I teach and my students had an amazing time conversing with him. Then I had Ana (our daughter) visit and it was another super-hit class. She loved answering questions and made everyone laugh a lot. They were all so kind to her and let her be herself. Having watched the Michael Jackson biopic a day before, and given how pure & sincere his love for children was, I wish he could’ve sat in on that session. It'd have been wonderful.

This Friday, I had my final class and a few of my students did long farewell speeches of their own accord. A bunch of us were teary-eyed while a couple were outright sobbing. I was given a few letters (which are incredibly heartwarming) and also a typewriter!!! (It’s an Olivetti Lettera 22 — the model Leonard Cohen used throughout his life!) My favorite class I’ve ever taught has come to an end, and I feel sad I might never teach in this kind of capacity again. It was easily the most (if not the only) rewarding part of the MFA. It was cool to witness so many of these wonderful kids improve as writers within a span of a couple months. They contributed massively to my own understanding of the poems & songs I’ve loved for so long. At least a few of them will never stop writing. I’ll miss them greatly.

As for some cool magazine news, we closed for the Poet of the Year award and got a whopping 1349 submissions! Now for the next two months we will be completely absorbed in these poems. We can’t wait to find our Poet of the Year and find other brilliant voices. Thank you for sending us your work, for your kind readership, and for supporting us in any and all ways you do — we do not take any of it for granted. Now it's time to spend some time with our poet of the week, the only & only Laura Kasischke.

Yours,

​Karan​

from Torture

No one was killed.

No matter what they did.

No one survived

no matter where

they ran or hid.

Whittling Away at Dream Logic

I like to think that I've thought about craft so much that it just miraculously thinks of itself while I'm writing. But, in truth, I do think a lot about it when I revise, and much more so when I write short poems. For a long time I just avoided short poems because I was too self-conscious about craft to dare go out in public wearing so few words. Now I'm finding the challenge and art in poetry to be in whittling.

Open Submission Call

​Poem of the Month ☆ May Theme: Sonnet⁠

Deadline: May 7 @ Midnight EST

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☆ Selected poems will be published on our website as well as sent out via ONLY POEMS DAILY and on our socials, where over 70K+ readers will experience your work.

☆ We will respond to all submissions within 3-4 weeks. If selected for publication, the honorarium is $40.

☆ You can read all previous Poem of the Month winners here​