A Place to Leave Things

Category: poetry unpacked

  • Poetry Unpacked: On Addiction

    Poetry Unpacked: On Addiction

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    by

    Holly Leary
    in ,

    COLLAPSING GEOMETRIES (Click link for poem) “Sleepmonger, deathmonger, with capsules in my palms each night, eight at a time from sweet pharmaceutical bottles.” — Anne Sexton, “The Addict” Poetry Unpacked:  On Addiction  Anne Sexton’s phrasing – Sleepmonger – Deathmonger: her words feel like blood on my tongue. There is no romance in them, and no metaphor…

  • On Stars and People and People as Stars

    On Stars and People and People as Stars

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    by

    Holly Leary
    in ,

    GRAVITAS OF GREATNESS (click for poem link) “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.” ― Carl Sagan, Cosmos Poetry Unpacked: On Stars and People and People as Stars…

  • Poetry Unpacked: On Hope

    Poetry Unpacked: On Hope

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    by

    Holly Leary
    in ,

    RED PLANET, RED FLAG (Click for poem) “If I had lost my belief in you, I should have lost all hope.” –George Elliot, Middlemarch Poetry Unpacked: On Hope George Eliot’s line sounds romantic until you sit with its implications. Belief, in this framing, is not separate from hope. It is hope. To lose belief in…