best new poets

Disconnected Love

Poetry

WHAT IS LOVE?

We all want it but we’re not always sure how to get it. Many times we come close– then disconnect. Things don’t work out for any number of reasons.

With Valentine’s Day upon us, we present a poem which might be about disconnected love– “When It’s All Said and Done” by Aqeel Parvez.

If you haven’t found real love for yourself yet, keep trying! It’s out there. In the meantime, read our new poetry feature.

early morn, fairly warm, we subsist as two,
separate entities, delicacy, fallen leaves.

Valentine’s 2021

Poetry

LOVE PROSE/POETRY

WITH all the hating going on right now coming in from every direction, the universe could use more love.

Positive loving vibes issuing forth into the atmosphere to transform one and all.

With this in mind we offer before St. Valentine’s Day six love poems by Toronto musician/writer Tom Preisler. They well cover the inevitable ups and downs which come with loving someone.

(Tom will be featured in an upcoming print publication of ours, Extreme Zeen 2, due in April. We’ll also have a photo of him in our next print zeen, due soon. We like to spotlight the best new writers, and Tom Preisler is a good one.)

There is this loneliness everywhere,

You can see it in the front door of a supermarket store, its reflecting in your beer and untouched whisky,

It’s in the face of a woman waiting for a telephone call that never comes, in a one bedroom apartment with plastic flowers in waterless vase, untouched, unloved,
faithfully waiting for each night to pass.

<<<<>>>>

(Art: “The Dancer” by Andre Derain.)

Poetry in Nature

Poetry

NEW POETRY 2020

POETS traditionally have written about their relationship with nature– undoubtedly because it’s when we’re in nature, communing with the actual world, that the music of poetry comes naturally into our heads. The oldest art? The art most attuned to the rhythms of the world and the universe. Or the mind of the universe.

Our first poetry feature of the new decade spotlights that relationship: “Into the Depths of the Trees”  by C.A. Shoultz. We hope you like it.

I wandered further, past the noise of cars,

Until great silence came around my ears,

And I could feel the hairs raise on my neck. . .

NataliaGoncharovaTheForest

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(Featured art: “The Park at Carrieres-Saint-Denis” by Georges Braque; “The Forest” by Natalia Goncharova.)

The Pressures of Poetry

Poetry

Has New Pop Lit gone international?

Maybe! Our last feature was from a writer across one ocean. This feature comes from across another. Today we present four new poems from talented Irish poet DS Maolalai— including “The pressure of poetry” and “Like water for dolphins.”

What’s happening? Merely a prelude to our future literary conquest of the globe. After that– the universe. We’re very much American based, but also are keen to spread our message of exciting new literary art far and wide.

What are the pressures of poetry?

To push the poetic art in new directions connecting it with more people bringing peace calm understanding insight to all those who hear it. Which we try to do here.

brown and white
like the back
of a springer spaniel
or some bastard cross
of king charles
and the rashers crack
with a smack
and satisfaction.
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(Art: “Fish Magic” by Paul Klee.)

A Poetry Interlude

Poetry

WE TAKE A BREAK from our fiction experiments in the New Pop Lit laboratories to present Three New Poems by a poetic practitioner from Pennsylvania, Luke Kuzmish. The poems touch on subjects as diverse as drug use, Charles Bukowski and Wall Street. (A Wall Street bar, but still.) We hope you enjoy them.

the kind of pills
to fix the problems
they don’t tell you about
in welfare rehabs

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(Art: “Painting” by Patrick Henry Bruce.)

 

Poetry for Poetry Month

Poetry

WELCOME! Did someone say National Poetry Month?

We’ve taken a break from behind-the-scenes activities to post new writing in honor of Poetry Month. (Though to be honest, every month is Poetry Month.) Check out “The Ginger Man and Other Poems” by Jess Mize, a natural talent who can write anything– poetry, prose, or any combination thereof– and make it look easy. 

Tell yourself you’re doing your part to support National Poetry Month.

the tentative restless drops drip-drazzling
over the patio umbrella of the café
like the luxury of a mid-day shower

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3–D IS Coming

(Meanwhile, we continue to work hard chiseling prototypes for the biggest change the literary world has experienced in decades– the 3–D Short Story. Stay updated at our  New Pop Lit News page.)
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(Featured art: “Eagle Bringing Cup to Psyche” by Benjamin West.)

New Poetry: “The Dancer”

Poetry

WHAT do you want to read in the summer? What would anyone want to read right now? No one is snowbound, locked in a cabin with harsh wind whistling. More like lazy sunshine, seagulls and daydreams.

This ISN’T the time for heavy texts of French postmodern meanderings. (Nothing against the French!) It’s a time for escape, romance, and mood.

We present a taste of that mood with “The Dancer,” a poem by C.A. Shoultz.

The shadows and the glow upon her fell
In fitful swells and motions as she moved
In regular and tidy leaps and bounds
And pirouettes and arabesques of grace.

We aim to be THE best literary site. The quickest route there is by presenting the best poets and story writers. We invite you to join along.

01-giacomo-balla-lampada-streetlamp-1909

(Art: “Woman Before the Rising Sun” by Caspar David Friedrich; “Streetlamp” by Giacomo Balla.)

More Poetry!

Poetry

MORE MORE poetry poetry. We’ve been on a poetry kick of late. We continue it with three sparkling quick poems from Ohio poet James Croal Jackson, full of wry insight combined with slices of realism. Read them!

think of those
who have lost
the soup
steams the kitchen
sunken chicken
in chunks
salt boils
the tea kettles
green
the minced leaves
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DON’T FORGET also our ongoing Open Mic, smoky low-light venue of dynamic spoken word performed by today’s most fascinating and talented literary personalities. We’re at a short pause– the crowd is buzzing because next up are Dan Nielsen and Georgia Bellas, reading words while backed by the band Sugar Whiskey. Or maybe Dan and Georgia are Sugar Whiskey. We’ll find out!
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(Painting: “The Knife Grinder” by Kazimir Malevich.)

More Pop Lit Poetry!

Poetry

POETRY MONTH continues, as we continue publishing and promoting poetry.

The word– the Homer-Shakespeare oral tradition folk legend spanning-all-cultures origin of literature.

For this edition of our tribute to poetry
we have a variety of styles
emotions, images,
sound and wordplay
essential elements of the art.

FIRST,

Four Poems by Holly Day, presenting an array of ideas and images of a poetic nature.

Eavesdropping, I want to tell her
that the white marble statues of Greek temples were originally
covered in bright splotches of paint, that the pyramids were once topped
with garish gold cones, that the cold stone idol she’s touching right now
was once plastered with white lime and painted in neon hues.
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Waterhouse, John William, 1849-1917; The Lady of Shalott

SECOND, we have a new book review of an exciting new volume of prose and poetry by talented underground writer Nicole Nesca of Screamin’ Skull Press. Worth examination– if you want to see what’s happening.

–a writer bleeding emotion, history, and imagination onto the page. Nicole does this in chapter after chapter, a many-hued mix of poetry, prose and stories–
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Palma_Vecchio_-_Portrait_of_a_Poet_-_Google_Art_Project

THIRD, there’s our ongoing Open Mic at which another poet will soon step to the microphone– James Croal Jackson, who will be featured, in a few weeks– as Holly Day is currently featured– with new poetry. You’ll be able to hear him first.

Poetry Month? New Pop Lit is covering it.
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(Paintings: “Homer Among the Greeks” by Gustav Jaeger; “The Lady from Shalott” by John William Waterhouse; “Portrait of a Poet” by Palma Vecchio.)