Live Nude Poems

Wayfinder In Reykjavik The mother of the goldsmith shows me the rune beside the protective eye of awe near the lava stone & silver necklaces adorned by the carved teeth of whales. She says, Here is the wayfinder & puts it on so I may imagine how it will look on you. Along the walls, she has modeled her son’s creations. In black & white, a grandmother, still beautiful. I hope this is where we will follow, the way an older culture set the symbol to stay in one place, offering something of the earth that skill shaped, clasped with a magnet to hold the rope, so you will know where you are going even when you don’t. Max Heinegg is a poet, singer-songwriter, recording artist, editor, and literary critic. His previous collection, Good Harbo r, won the inaugural Paul Nemser Prize from Lily Poetry Press. His second book of poems, Going Therre, came out in September 2023. Born in Cooperstown, NY, he lived in Schenectady, NY before moving to Medford, M...

Stopped at the Gate It is easy to forget we are fragile without skullcaps, without sweaters, without television to tell the stories           that warm us. In the snow I pee a sketch like a boy. It is a refugee’s boat, medieval, with a shallow prow, and beside           the single mast the dribble of all that can be saved in a shipwreck. All that freezes in deep cold. All that melts           when it thaws. There’s a rumor that Jesus could walk on water, right through these walls, your iron gate           a mirage of fish. Al Ortolani’ s poetry has appeared in journals such as Rattle, New York Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, One Art Poetry Journal, Main Street Rag, Chiron Review, and many others. His most recent poetry collection is The Taco Boat, published by New York ...