Arthur Russell

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Vigil

I am my father's swat for flies
that smell him there and come to light
on that deep crease between his eyes
as I sit vigil through the night.

Arthur Russell won the Brooklyn Poets' Poem of the Year Award in 2015 and was the runner up for the same award in 2021. He won second place in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award for 2021. He is one of the Gang of Six that manages the Red Wheelbarrow Poetry group, the mc of its monthly open mic, co-leader of its weekly workshop and co-editor of its annual journal, the Red Wheelbarrow.