Web Poetry Wednesday #3

Every Wednesday, I feature a list of 10 poems that I've found across the web: on blogs, in literary journals, etc. The only real criteria is that the poems must be publicly accessible, meaning that readers don't have to pay any sort of fee to access them, and the writer in question ought to be alive and still writing today. If you're a poet and you'd like to see your work featured in a future Web Poetry Wednesday post, send me a link to ONE (1) poem for consideration: you can submit your links through the site's Contact page, or you can tweet me a link through Twitter.

This week's poems:

• Dancer by Linda Goin
  "Dancer" is one of those poems that captures a moment in everyday life, and in this case, it happens to be accompanied by the photograph that inspires it. I'm not a big fan of poems with accompanying photos, but that's largely because many online poets don't choose images that directly link to their work. In this case, the photograph of this woman is the direct inspiration of the poem, and the two sit well beside each other.
• The Apiary by Rachel Bunting
  I came across Rachel Bunting's "The Apiary" first through Nic Sebastian's Whale Sound project, but I wanted to give the text of the poem some attention on its own. It's a breathtaking piece. Rachel's website can be found here
• Pantuflas Blancas by Christina Hile
  I really love the unique images in Christine Hile's "Pantuflas Blancas," and even better, the poem is accompanied by a streaming MP3 file of the author reading her poem.
• A Mused By You by James Barger
  I love the contemporary voice that James Barger uses in his poetry, and "A Mused By You" is no exception, even if he laments it as "pop-punk teenage lyricism."
• Club Life by Joseph Harker
  Joseph Harker's "Club Life" includes a number of brilliant phrases. In particular, I love this one: "you sucked the straight right out of me, and now / I walk around crooked."
• Diving Towers by Anton Gourman
  I hadn't planned on including Gourman's "Diving Towers" in this week's list, but the more I read it, the more I liked it: it's one of those poems about summer and adolescents, but there's a lasciviousness to it that sticks with you.
• Root of the Serpent by Cory Funk
  I love the imagery Cory Funk employs in "Root of the Serpent." It's full of images that nail you to your seat: "Yew-snakes of Dunsinane wind / Through the plundered eyes of / The Thane for his sins."
• Apollyon by Christine Klocek-Lim
  Christine Klocek-Lim's "Apollyon" is a bit different from the other poems I've featured in Web Poetry Wednesday, in part because it's a prose-poem, but it also stands out because of the way it's presented. The poem appeared in the literary journal Ocho, and Ocho's online format consists basically of a scanned digital copy of the journal, rather than a traditional webpage. You may need to click the zoom button to read the poem.
• Fistula Girls by Kathleen Overby
  "Fistula Girls" is probably the most heart-wrenching poem in this week's list, but Overby nails it in a way creeps under your skin without being overwrought.
• Wet Socks by Harry Furness
  Those of you that know me know that I'm sucker for all things World War II, and especially poetry about the era. Harry Furness' "Wet Socks" is just such a poem, set at Normandy or some other beach battleground of the war.

And that's it for this week. Be sure to check back next Wednesday for another ten poems by authors around the web.