The Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast April submitted poems episode features four wonderful contributions read by the poets. Different forms and themes are featured. The Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast explores the art of poetry through interviews with poets and artists including Safia Elhillo, A.E. Stallings, Dana Gioia, Yanyi, Olivia Gatwood, Lisa Marie Simmons and more. Subscribe today.
Listen to the poems using your favorite podcast player and then read each below:
- Portrait of a Waxwing by Lores Denison
- Melanophobia by Maya Sheppard
- One July Ago, There Was a Cafe by Keith Gaboury
- Venus of Urbino by Kenneth Boyd
The waxwing knows
just where to find
the best berries,
returning each
winter with her family...
Excerpt from Portrait of a Waxwing
Lores Denison wrote her first book about a family of kittens when she was eight. Since then, she has published poetry in Pensworth and Deep Overstock literary journals. When she’s not writing in a cafe, she can usually be found traipsing about the woods somewhere.
I used to ignore the black crayon. Searched
for the perfect brighter hue. I used to break
the black Crayola in two and never glued it back
together, tape the ends, or rearrange it’s spot
with the color blue...
Excerpt from Melanophobia
Hey! I’m Maya Sheppard. I have been writing since a little girl. I’m a teacher and a published poet. I’m from Arkansas, but I reside in Texas.
at Broadway and Grand
yet its name just leapt
off my tongue
like my great-uncle Gary
who leaped off the Golden Gate Bridge
to his Pacific Ocean coffin…
Excerpt from One July Ago, There Was a Cafe
Keith Gaboury earned a MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Kelsay Books published The Cosmos is Alive in 2023 and Falkenberg Press published Still Human in 2025. Keith lives in Oakland, California.
I saw you first in the scowl of morning
Encaging your every secret angle
Every facial feature, long wavy hair
And guilty details like furrows and turns...
Excerpt from Venus of Urbino
Kenneth Boyd is a poet and former jazz musician. His poetry has appeared in Wayfarer Magazine, the Cadence Anthology, Flora Fiction, Unlost Journal, and others. He is a winner of the 2024 Royal Palm Literary Award. His book, Grasshopper Dreams (2023) was, “a compilation of evocative and graceful poetry.” (Kirkus) Kenneth Boyd (BA, MA, ABD) is an Assistant Editor at Southland Alibi magazine and is completing the UCLA Extension Creative Writing Program.
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