July 11, 2021

Wind Rising in the Alleys

Lola Ridge

Wind rising in the alleys
My spirit lifts in you like a banner
Streaming free of hot walls.
You are full of unspent dreams . . .
You are laden with beginnings . . .
There is hope in you . . . not sweet . . .
acrid as blood in the mouth.
Come into my tossing dust
Scattering the peace of old deaths,
Wind rising in the alleys
Carrying stuff of flame.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on July 11, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast

“Wind Rising in the Alleys” appeared in Sun-Up and Other Poems (B.W. Huebsch, inc., 1920).

Lola Ridge was born in Dublin on December 12, 1873. Her books include Sun-Up and Other Poems (B.W. Huebsch, inc., 1920) and Red Flag (Viking Press, 1927). She was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935 and the Shelley Memorial Award in 1936. She died on May 19, 1941.

Sun-Up and Other Poems
(B.W. Huebsch, inc., 1920)

“The Dream” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
read more

“Together” by Carrie Williams Clifford
read more

Thanks to R. Erica Doyle, author of proxy (Belladonna Books, 2013), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Watch a Q&A about Doyle’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

This free, daily series is made possible by our readers. If you’re able, please consider donating to support this work.

Become a monthly sustainer
join

Make a one-time gift
donate

The Academy of American Poets

75 Maiden Lane

St #901

New York, NY 10038

Add us to your address book

View this email in your browser

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

"Wind Rising in the Alleys" by Lola Ridge

Wind Rising in the Alleys

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast

Older messages

"In Summer Twilight" by Joshua Henry Jones, Jr.

"Born. Living. Will. Die." by Camonghne Felix

"What he thought belly down, when I was 8 years old" by Duriel E. Harris

"remedies I" by S*an D. Henry Smith

Summer Rain Poems, Poetry Coalition Fellowship deadline, and more

You Might Also Like

Anne Hathaway Just Shut It Down In A Princess-Like Oscar de la Renta Gown

The Difference Between Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Sanitizing

Anne Hathaway's Liquid Gold Ball Gown Was So 'Princess Diaries'-Coded

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Is Right Where She Belongs

New Gains with Muscle After 40 💪

Eater staff's favorite single-use kitchen tools

Moisturize and Revitalize: Hair, Bath Products, and Foundations for Winter

Ariana Grande Has Been Changed For Good

Three little things

New and Old #196