Audio Feature: Sean Thomas Dougherty (Shō No. 3)
I think I'm tired of auditioning. / I'm not dancing for bread anymore. / I'm not paying your fee.
SHŌ POETRY JOURNAL ISSUES ON SALE TILL JUNE 1!
congratulations to erica dawson on winning a pushcart prize!
listen to her poem here.
POETRY submissions reopen JUNE 1.
Established in 2002, revived in 2023

I think I'm tired of auditioning. / I'm not dancing for bread anymore. / I'm not paying your fee.

I split into two and the wolf split into four and we kept dividing
our greatness until I matched the air and the wolf matched the earth

I sling myself up those stairs / with all the other tired men because //
who am I to refuse the slap / of hunched playing cards

Sometimes I forget I came from the Earth / from the rocks, from the spongy moss // was a home for all the squirming, crawling / slippery life that lived under me.