Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Navigation

Personal tools
You are here: Home / Lit

Lit

Collected poetry and literature, both my own as well as my favorites, those of my friends, and my personal favorites from around the world.

Cut Flowers

I don't remember the impetus or reason for this poem. If I can remember why, I will share it here.

Cut Flowers - Read More…

Easter

A love poem for Michelle

Easter - Read More…

Fallation Brass Axe

In 1997, I was apparently a surrealist poet.

Fallation Brass Axe - Read More…

Farewell Sonnet

Not by me but by Kathryn Medland, Mike Crow, and Mark Harrison back in 1996

Farewell Sonnet - Read More…

Je suis fatigue

The ennui of 26 years and a little bit of voyeurism? Maybe of longing?

Je suis fatigue - Read More…

Fat Lady

I guess I was a surrealist poet

Fat Lady - Read More…

Ford Pickup

Love it. I don't remember if I lived it.

Ford Pickup - Read More…

Freeze

I need to remember this one better.

Freeze - Read More…

Memory of the Tousled-Haired Girl

In March only the smokers stood outside on the street where the party was allowed to spill.

Memory of the Tousled-Haired Girl - Read More…

fall rant

The first rain brought all the leaves to the slick city streets.

fall rant - Read More…

My Smokey Poet

I guess I used to romanticize smoking French cigarettes.

My Smokey Poet - Read More…

Washingtonian: Spontaneous Hypernarrative

A collaborative spontaneous hypernarrative I catalyzed back in 1997.

Washingtonian: Spontaneous Hypernarrative - Read More…

Reading to Myron Stout

I feel like this was a writing project I did in class at GWU

Reading to Myron Stout - Read More…

Metro One

I see that I wrote a lot of love poems when I was in my 20s

Metro One - Read More…

New Lovers

The sky took the morning. Birds tore small holes in the quiet.

New Lovers - Read More…

k.

I wrote a lot of love poetry in 1994, all my love poetry was written in my 20s.

k. - Read More…

Sweatshirt

Love poem written for and about my English Rose.

Sweatshirt - Read More…

Aerogramme

I was one romantic bastard in my 20s.

Aerogramme - Read More…

Algeria

I think I must have been obsessed with Camus at the time of this poem.

Algeria - Read More…

The Blight of the City at Night

I wrote this when I was sitting on a bench outside my Sophomore dorm.

The Blight of the City at Night - Read More…

Memories are Blue-green

Maybe the most accurate description of how my brain works?

Memories are Blue-green - Read More…

Brittle

Poem about visiting a volcanic eruption (grew up in Hawaii).

Brittle - Read More…

dry elbows

Love poem written for Michelle in Hawaii from DC.

dry elbows - Read More…

brazen body

Probably a love poem about Michelle.

brazen body - Read More…

Dig Me with Kat

Poem published Dec 29, 2002 - 09:26 PM

Dig Me with Kat - Read More…

A Poem for S.

©14 February 1995 Chris Abraham

A Poem for S. - Read More…

Bleached Slave (revision 1)

I think I wrote this for a college class, well before this sort of thing might not have been done. Carole Maso's class, 3 February 1993.

Bleached Slave (revision 1) - Read More…

Flesh

©1993 Chris Abraham

Flesh - Read More…

CONDOM

©1992 Chris Abraham

CONDOM - Read More…

Burial

©1994 Chris Abraham

Burial - Read More…

Barefoot all Day

This was inspired by Anne Sexton "I Remember"

Barefoot all Day - Read More…

Ode to Fashion

Ode to Fashion

I feel like this is my favorite poem and the only one that my buddy Mark Harrison knows almost by heart. ©1995 Chris Abraham

Ode to Fashion - Read More…

Two Of

©1996 Ariane Conrad

Two Of - Read More…

Cambridge Motorways, 1992

I love poem I wrote to a girl I dated named Liz Humphries. Where is she now? I really don't know.

Cambridge Motorways, 1992 - Read More…

Triangle Park

When I was in love in the early 90s, I wrote many poems about a girl named Elizabeth. I flew her out from Kent, UK, and to Honolulu. I wrote a poem about one moment, in Triangle Park in Waikiki. It moved me.

Triangle Park - Read More…

Innuendo

I don't even know where this poem came from. It really must have been possession, because this isn't very much me. Or is it? Well, its certainly innuendo.

Innuendo - Read More…

Discman

Discman

It's funny to find odd little treasures like this poem. I mean, what was it about the discman that made me feel like writing a poem?

Discman - Read More…

summertime duvet (cheese cloth melody)

In 1996, Anne Brossard and I traveled around the globe. Anne was in the last stage of freedom before attending graduate school at Columbia, and I a photographer. And I wrote this poem about the oppressive heat of Singapore, which is nothing compared to DC funk.

summertime duvet (cheese cloth melody) - Read More…

You Sit to Write

This is my favorite ode to Kathryn Medland. She is an inspired poet and I want to make that clear. And so, in admiration of her art, I wrote about her. There might have been a crush involved.

You Sit to Write - Read More…

The Red-Hooded Sweatshirt

I fell in love with an English Rose named Liz Humphries while studying in England at UEA. When I met her, we were at the Norwich boat house for UEA. She wore a big unflattering sweatshirt, red as a Cardinal. I imprinted on it.

The Red-Hooded Sweatshirt - Read More…

Metro Three

This poem is the end of a series of 1997-era poetry about seeing my friend Kathryn Medland after a few years. She was an amazing friend who I always adored for her love and lust for life. She honored me by featuring the work as part of her wedding reception's party favor and printed my words along with her other faves (e.e. cumming, etc.) and offering them to her wedding guests. It was high honor to me.

Metro Three - Read More…

Metro Two

This is another of the poems that Kathryn Medland printed out to share with her wedding party. It was my biggest artistic honor to be there, like placemats, sitting at random table-settings. To be commingled and cojoined with the work of e.e. cummings.

Metro Two - Read More…

Tsan-Boo

Tsan-Boo was my Sherpa when Mark Harrison and I trekked in Nepal

Tsan-Boo - Read More…

Blue Kayaks

Mark and I keep Kayaks at Jack's Boats and since I was writing too much about girls and about psychobabble, I thought it prudent to allow my inner naturalist to surface.

Blue Kayaks - Read More…

Houston

Houston

I usually don't write too much about places, especially in the US. Although I found this one, which is about Texas.

Houston - Read More…

Rothko Chapel

I visited Houston for a while in 1996. The Rothko Chapel is worth visiting Houston to see. It really can convince even the most resolute naysayer that there is something greater than ourself.

Rothko Chapel - Read More…

Chasing Nicole

Chasing Nicole

I have been going to the gym like a maniac over the last few months. I can see my scores on the Erg improve and I can see a lot more musculature. I felt pretty good about my progress until I accepted an invitation to go on a walk with Nicole Wilson.

Chasing Nicole - Read More…

63

I was a bike courier for WEx, Washington Express, in my 20s.

63 - Read More…

Oatmeal by Galway Kinnell

Oatmeal by Galway Kinnell

I believe that Oatmeal is my first poem by Galway Kinnell and I think of it and him every time I cook up my Bob's Red Mill stone ground oats with milk and maple syrup.

Oatmeal by Galway Kinnell - Read More…

Topography by Sharon Olds

Topography by Sharon Olds

I've had a couple amazing long distance relationships in my life and they were always so passionate. Sharon Olds is the best when it comes to passionate. She gets me.

Topography by Sharon Olds - Read More…

The Unborn by Sharon Olds

The Unborn by Sharon Olds

I don't know if I will ever have children. If I will ever be a parent. Sometimes a feel a longing. Sometimes I feel a lack. I probab;ly won't. It's not looking good.

The Unborn by Sharon Olds - Read More…

Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds

Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds

Maybe I have been hobbled by growing up Catholic or putting women on pedestals because of all-boys school. But I have never swiped left or right on Tinder. I am no choir boy. I have had more than my fair share. But going through lovers has never been the way I have ever passed my time. It's neither sport nor a source of story or content. I feel like Sharon Olds gets my feelings perfectly right.

Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds - Read More…

Primitive by Sharon Olds

Primitive by Sharon Olds

The only thing that separates us Americans in 2019 from men 50,000 years ago is the hubris of modernity. We are all primitive and Sharon Old gets it. And it's beautiful and meaningful, both.

Primitive by Sharon Olds - Read More…

Satan Says by Sharon Olds

Satan Says by Sharon Olds

Being exposed to the profane done artfully and in a way that shows the humanness innate in blasphemy and heresy. This poem, by poet Sharon Olds, from her book Satan Says, was one of those experiences. That and The Pope's Penis, another of her poems.

Satan Says by Sharon Olds - Read More…

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d by Walt Whitman

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d by Walt Whitman

My top-4 poets are Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Galway Kinnell, and Sharon Olds; now, we're celebrating Walt Whitman's 200th anniversary as America's poet. This is really one of Whitman's most Washington, DC, pome.

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d by Walt Whitman - Read More…

I Sing the Body Electric by Walt Whitman

I Sing the Body Electric by Walt Whitman

On the celebration of the 200th anniversary of America's bard, here's to Walt Whitman, America's poet.

I Sing the Body Electric by Walt Whitman - Read More…

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

To me, this is the most important poem ever written and shared with the world, more important to what it is to be an American than the Constitution, Bill of Rights, The Gettysburg Address, or even the Declaration of Independence. The I Have a Dream speech is this poem's brother.

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman - Read More…

Document Actions