One great poem to read today: Elizander Espenschied’s “If Only We Had Medicine Like That Today”
This April marks the 30th iteration of National Poetry Month, which was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending one great poem to read every (work) day of the month. We make no claim (except when we do) that these poems are the “best” poems in any category; they are simply poems we love. The only other thing they all have in common is that they are available to read for free online, so you can enjoy them along with us. The internet is still good for some things, after all. Today we recommend:
Elizander Espenschied’s “If Only We Had Medicine Like That Today”
HAD is one of those great online lit mags that’s worth clicking over to every day, because you never know quite what you’re going to get—except that it will be very HAD, whatever it is. A poem, or perhaps a piece of flash fiction, or maybe something memoir-ish, or quite possibly something that defies all categorizations; I love reading it all, but I have found myself particularly moved by the poetry of late. Fitting, for National Poetry Month and all.
I have a list of pieces that I was contemplating putting up today but I went with this one, a recent piece from Elizander Espenschied. I love Star Trek more than Star Wars (I like them both, don’t get me wrong, but one is clearly superior and we can argue about that elsewhere)—and something about this piece really gets to the heart of why: I am compelled by the human questions underneath the space adventuring. What would it be like, to fight battles that leave no visible scars? To be healed by incredible futuristic technology, while still knowing that you’ve left blood and tattered shirts on the ground of other planets or the decking of other starships? What does it mean to live in space, to leave space, to find space?
Plus, I love a poem with a fun structural device and this one delivers in spades.
Drew Broussard
Drew Broussard is the bookstores editor-at-large for Literary Hub and the host of The Lit Hub Podcast. His writing has appeared around the internet and in friends' mailboxes. After a decade working at The Public Theater, he decamped to the woods of upstate New York, where he now lives. He is the manager of Rough Draft Bar & Books in Kingston, NY. a writer, podcaster, bookseller, and producer of creative events. He spent nearly a decade at The Public Theater before decamping to the woods of upstate New York, where he lives with his wife and dog.
