"July (From Humidity Diary)"
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Hammer-strokes of unmediated rage—
two men face off; one is waving
his weeping wife & son into a van
half in, half out, of its parking space;
the other's bike, wheels revolving,
lies upended on the sleek asphalt;
flanking him, two girls; everyone's
okay. Sunday, dew-point record high,
a hate-group has a permit to collect,
first, outside the Unitarian church,
then to mass in protest on the Green,
where every Independence Day
middle-aged merchants & retirees
in breeches & three-pointed hats
shoot muskets & pretend to kill
or die. "You're asking me to pay
for a scratch on your bumper? Look
Steven Cramer's fifth collection, Clangings, will be published in 2012. He directs the low-residency MFA creative writing program at Lesley University.
For Slate's poetry submission guidelines, click spacerhereyeshyperlinkPoetry SubmissionsSlate reads new poems from Oct. 1 to April 30. Manuscripts sent between May 1 and Sept. 30 will not be considered.To submit poems: Send, as a single attached document, up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each to editors@slatepoems.com. Use the poet's name for the subject line of the e-mail and for the title of the attachment. We prefer Word documents (.doc or .docx) to PDFs.Please include a brief, professional cover letter, including publication history, in the body of your email. Please limit submissions to one per poet per annual reading period. Simultaneous submissions are OK. Slate no longer accepts poetry submissions by mail. The email address editors@slatepoems.com is for poetry submissions only (or to notify editors of acceptance elsewhere of a poem under consideration at Slate). Other inquiries, etc., will not be addressed.10000false220061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM63271989937000000020061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM632719899370000000.Click here to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.Click here for an archive of "Poet's Choice" columns from the Washington Post.


