Blog Archives

May 30~ HIRAM LAREW

5/30/2025

Today on SHINE, we have one last installment for this special "book features" week. A champion of poetry and social justice issues, SHINE is honored to promote Dr. Hiram Larew! Hiram brings us samples of his work from This Much Very, published earlier this year by Alien Buddha Press. As a special treat, Hiram has included audio links for these poems (simply click on each title below to listen). Thank you, Hiram, for being part of the SHINE international poetry community!

Wheat Dust
(first published by River Road Poetry Anthology)

Only thing I can think of as bad off as me
Is harvest.
Yes it’s as flat as my face
And just about as friendly as a dead rock.
Try making anything out of this wheat dust
If you will.

Someone said just yesterday that my eyes look bad.
Well of course they do from no water.

Crows could tell you as much.
They’re not dumb.
No rain and they’re gone.
They’ve got good sense.
Fact is they flew off months ago
When the going was good,
When I was still sleeping on the old box springs
For the love of pete
But not anymore.

Let me say again about what a joy it is
To be sleeping flat on the floor.
Right down there with the mice and their musties.

I tell you if I didn’t have Jimmy
I’d leave too.

Damn I would.

Something will happen.

Drenched
(first published by Juste Literary)

You are god-soaked --
    a hay dream that
    drenches the prairies and that
    all haloes pour through

You are hope atmospheric and
    raw storms inviting that
    overwhelm echoes and mighty

Or vast hallows and
    flood fields that
    rush holy forward
    with you

Yes you are a torch-trumpeted cloud --
    the choicest swoon specter
    that sounds out
    what’s purest of downpours

And whenever you run to cover
    under thundering goodness
    all rakes get tossed love-like
    up in the air

Right Here Right Now

As he was climbing the garden wall
Romeo in all legends
And moonlight
Began to realize deep down and surely
The glorious power of his arms
And so he flew beyond himself
In love
Oh yes he did
Even though he was and still is
Just smoke

And when too
Almost as long ago
One of the most fabled explorers alive
Finally found freshets of water
In the desert
Gurgling like sighs
There must have been a cry in his heart
Yes a love in flight
That can never ever be described in tales gone by
No matter what

So then when
Beyond all discovery
The only daybreak in the world blooms
And flows
Right here right now
On your shoulder
To rise in my arms in a story
Is it any surprise
That even the clouds shake their heads
And say oh no oh no
There are too many wings already

Here's what others are saying about This Much Very...

There is a freedom of spirit in the new poems from Hiram Larew’s This Very Much. Freedom to say the difficult words. Freedom to celebrate joyous moments that only poetry allows entrance to understand. A barren field of wheat dust gives way to a gratitude as sweet as cherries on a branch. Longing and hope find room for their truth in the lines. Love is in there too. It's wonderful poetry!
-Elizabeth Gracen, Editor, Flapper Press

*
...a fascinating interplay of words - brought together as unpredictable partners - in embracing
dances of self-discovery.
-Noel Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul and Mary)

*
There are miracles and magic in the everyday. Sometimes we become aware of them, but even when we don't, they see us. This Much Very is the arterial where analogy meets whimsy; with lines as passersby, unwitting accomplices in an ordinary meet cute under miraculous circumstances.
-Andrea Stuart, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Up.St.ART Annapolis and Poet

Hiram Larew's seventh collection of poems, This Much Very, was published by Alien Buddha Press in 2025. His poems have appeared in recent issues of Poetry South, Iowa Review, Poetry Scotland, and Contemporary American Voices, and have been nominated for four national Pushcart awards. During his career, Larew guided US Government food security programs. He’s received support from Arts Councils and Food Banks as well as the United Nations and Feed the Children for his Poetry X Hunger, an initiative that is bringing a world of poets to the anti-hunger cause. In addition, Larew founded the "Voices of Woodlawn," a powerful program of poetry, music, and art that explores America’s tragic history and legacy of slavery. Larew is a Courtesy Faculty at five U. S. universities, is a former member of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Poetry Board, and serves as poetry consultant to WBJC-FM classical radio in Baltimore, Maryland. He lives in Maryland, USA. Learn more at:
www.HiramLarewPoetry.com
www.PoetryXHunger.com

May 28~ A.M. HAYDEN

5/28/2025

Today's installment of "book feature week" here at SHINE, brings us samples of two books by A.M. (Amanda) Hayden, Poet Laureate of Sinclair Community College. The first two poems, below, are from American Saunter, Hayden's debut collection published last year by FlowerSong Press. Following those, is a sampling from Hayden's brand new chapbook How to Tie Tobacco -- now available from Wild Ink Publishing. Thank you, Amanda, for being a part of SHINE international poetry series!

Big Bend National Park, Texas
(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Ode to a St. Louis Drag Queen
(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Egg Exchange
(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)

Caretaker Covenant
(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
Big Bend National Park, Willows Wept Review 2023
Caretaker Covenant, Etymology Press, 2024
Egg Exchange, When the River Speaks, 2024

A.M. Hayden's debut collection, American Saunter, released 2024 (FlowerSong Press). Her chapbook, How to Tie Tobacco, and second collection, Old World Wings, will release in 2025 (Wild Ink Publishing). A Pushcart Prize nominee and the 2023 River Heron Editor's Choice Prize winner, she lives with her family and many rescue babies.

May 27~ MELANIE HESS

5/27/2025

Hello poetry fans! For this shortened week, I'm thrilled to feature three talented poets who have graciously shared samples of their latest books/chapbooks for the enjoyment of the SHINE community. First up, an installment of poems from Bread and Bone by the fabulous Melanie Hess. Thank you, Melanie, for being a part of SHINE international poetry community! Melanie's book Bread and Bone is available on Amazon.

As a young girl, Melanie was entranced with William Carlos William’s The Red Wheelbarrow and knew she wanted to write poems. Many notebooks and many years alter, she began writing again during the COVID-19 pandemic. Melanie writes from British Columbia, Canada. Through imagery and detail, her vignettes explore the internal and external landscapes of life and what it means to be human. Her poetry book, Bread and Bone is available on Amazon. On Instagram: @alohamonkey

May 30~ HIRAM LAREW

Wheat Dust
(first published by River Road Poetry Anthology)

Drenched
(first published by Juste Literary)

Right Here Right Now

Here's what others are saying about This Much Very...

May 28~ A.M. HAYDEN

Big Bend National Park, Texas
(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Ode to a St. Louis Drag Queen
(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Egg Exchange
(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)

Caretaker Covenant
(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)

May 27~ MELANIE HESS

SHINE - International Poetry Series

Previous Features

May 30~ HIRAM LAREW

Wheat Dust(first published by River Road Poetry Anthology)

Drenched(first published by Juste Literary)

Right Here Right Now

Here's what others are saying about This Much Very...

May 28~ A.M. HAYDEN

Big Bend National Park, Texas(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Ode to a St. Louis Drag Queen(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Egg Exchange(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)

Caretaker Covenant(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)

May 27~ MELANIE HESS

SHINE - International Poetry Series

Previous Features

Wheat Dust
(first published by River Road Poetry Anthology)

Drenched
(first published by Juste Literary)

Big Bend National Park, Texas
(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Ode to a St. Louis Drag Queen
(from American Saunter by A.M. Hayden)

Egg Exchange
(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)

Caretaker Covenant
(from How to Tie Tobacco by A.M. Hayden)