BOA Blog

Hello readers! Every week, BOA's staff and interns share one of our favorite poems from our over 300 collections of poetry. In the spirit of civic engagement and the American ideal of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, this week's poem is a selection from Christian Barter's Bye-Bye Land: a book-length symphonic poem on the hopes and fears of America at the dawn of the 21st century. A selection from "Part I: The Warm Land" They strolled the campuses. They stood in chapels. They stood in chapels, under the huge stained glass. They drifted in silent, powerful automobiles....

Hello readers! Every week, BOA's staff and interns share one of our favorite poems from our over 300 collections of poetry. This week's poem is from Craig Morgan Teicher's Lenore Marshall Award-winning collection, The Trembling Answers.  Self-Portrait as the Man I’ve Become When did I grow so fastidious? When did I learnto use spreadsheets? There was no particular day; it happened in my thirties, that mostly pleasant pathbetween youth and whatever’s up next.Two deer appeared suddenly in our backyard today; I practically yelledeveryone to the window. They ateleaves from our rented treesand soon moved on. Simonewas amazed, Cal smiled. When did the deer...

Hello readers! Every week, BOA's staff and interns share one of our favorite poems from our over 300 collections of poetry. This week's poem is from The Smoke of Horses by Charles Rafferty, which was recently named as a finalist for the 2018 Connecticut Book Awards. Reflection I followed a creek’s quarter mile of crashing over rocks and algae andthe blurred darting of minnows, until it paused at a pool so well-stoppedit looked more like air than water: a sky of contrails, clod-shaped hunksof cumulus. I stepped in and saw the presence of my body disrupt theheavens at my feet. I couldn’t find the...

BOA is thrilled to share the news that Naomi Shihab Nye has won the prestigious Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Texas Institute of Letters. This is the highest honor given by the TIL, which was established in 1936 to recognize and celebrate Texas's literary artists.In the Texas Institute of Letters's official press release, TIL President Carmen Tafolla calls Naomi Shihab Nye “a significant world voice, utilizing poetry to tie tightly the bonds of humanity.” Nye's forthcoming BOA collection, The Tiny Journalist (BOA, April 2019), continues to advocate for peaceful communication across all boundaries. Inspired by the story of Janna Tamimi, the “Youngest...

Hello readers! Every week, BOA's staff and interns share one of our favorite poems from our over 300 collections of poetry. This week's poem is from Dresses from the Old Country by Laura Read. When You Have Lived a Long Time in One Place things start to vanish. Like the old Newberry’swhere I used to buy earrings that lookedlike tacks, six pairs for a dollar, and thengo sit at the lunch counter with the old peopleeating patty melts and drinking black coffee.They stared in front of them like the womenon the bus with their plastic rain scarvesthat they took from their purses when the...