Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, multimedia artist, and the author of 18 books of poetry and fiction as well as books for kids. His most recent...


there’s a guy standing beside me
waiting for the bus

guy says
Israel is like a coffee cup

then he wipes his nose
on his sleeve

Israel is like a coffee cup? I say

I should know? he says
I look like a philosopher?

the snowflakes fall
like fat angels

except they’re tiny and flat
and each is different

though sharing the same
crystalline form

here’s a Kleenex I say
then hand it to the guy

but the guy is gone
and so is his nose


Dry January: A Failure
A cleanse should help you cherish the glory of a healthy body. But what if it just makes you fixate on the toxins you…


‘I Don’t Think We Remember it the Same Way’
Ava DuVernay’s Selma is more analytical than the average biopic—a negotiation between complex and…