September 14, 2025
Michael Robins
Michael Robins is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently The Bright Invisible (Saturnalia Books, 2022). He lives in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he teaches in the MFA program at McNeese State University and serves as Editor of The McNeese Review.
Long ago, I thought divorce might be the hardest thing before someone, somewhere, always turns up dead & the conversation moves to baseball, to weather, to anything other than a prize dead center in the spider’s web or the yellowjackets afloat along the edge of the pool.
I think it’s easier to write a poem out of sorrow—some heartbreak, loneliness, even anger—than it is to write a poem focused on joy. It’s easier to write a poem that’s half-empty than one that’s half-full, but there’s certainly an audience for both.