【contact us】
Poets on contact usCouches: Donika Kelly Reads Taylor Johnson
Poets on Couches
National Poetry Month is almost over, but the second series of Poets on Couches continues. In these videograms, poets read and discuss the poemsthat are helping them through these strange times—broadcasting straight from their couches to yours. These readings bring intimacy into our spaces of isolation, both through the affinity of poetry and through the warmth of being able to speak to each other across distances.
“States of Decline”
By Taylor Johnson
(Issue no. 228, Spring 2019)
The room is dying honey and lemon rind.
Soured light. My grandmother sits in her chairsweetening into the blue velvet. Domestic
declension is the window that never opens—the paint peeling, dusting the sill, and inhaled.
It is an american love she lives in,my grandmother, rigored to televangelists
and infomercials. Losing the use of her legs.Needing to be turned like a mattress.
No one is coming for her. The dog isasleep in the yard, her husband,
obedient to the grease and garlicin the cast iron, salting her
death in the wind house.
Donika Kelly is the author of two collections of poems, Bestiaryand The Renunciations. She teaches at the University of Iowa. Her poem “Dear—” appeared in the Winter 2018 issue.
Search
Categories
Latest Posts
History Won’t Save You
2025-06-26 01:05Inside the Oakland artist warehouse that tragically burned down
2025-06-26 00:42Google's new app will help loved ones find you in an emergency
2025-06-26 00:37The Ex is Calling
2025-06-25 23:31Popular Posts
Watch NASA video of total lunar eclipse from space
2025-06-26 02:09Follow the Pelf
2025-06-26 01:29Featured Posts
The Online Culture Wars
2025-06-26 01:36Meeting with Trump emboldens anti
2025-06-25 23:59Fox instantly regrets attempting to pounce on vole hiding in snow
2025-06-25 23:42'Westworld' finale leaves us with 'chaos' for Season 2
2025-06-25 23:32Brown Existence Anxiety
2025-06-25 23:31Popular Articles
Fighting Words
2025-06-26 01:46Watch Hawaii become a winter wonderland
2025-06-26 00:43GeForce RTX 2080 Ti & 2080 Mega Benchmark
2025-06-25 23:49Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
Comments (12297)
Reading Information Network
Bridging the Healthcare Divide in West Virginia
2025-06-26 02:00Mark Information Network
OpTic Gaming wins the ELeague 'CS:GO' Season 2 championship
2025-06-26 01:18Style Information Network
Airbnb scams tripled in 2016, earning a consumer watchdog warning
2025-06-26 01:09Expressing Aspiration Information Network
War veteran 'bored to death' by retirement starts first day at new job
2025-06-26 00:47Imprint Information Network
The Eclipsing of Steve Bannon
2025-06-25 23:44