The Fall 2025 issue of Rattle pays tribute to Late Bloomers—poets who found their voices later in life, proving it’s never too late to begin again. From Michele Herman’s wry Notes on Communication to Tangerine Bell’s moving Epitaph for an Unpublished Poet, these pages are filled with wisdom, wit, and fresh starts. We also feature a rare conversation with Rattle’s elusive founder, Alan Fox, who reflects on 30 years of poetry, publishing, and the power of saying yes. The open section, as always, bursts with variety—don’t miss Richard Siken’s Pain Scale, Crystal Simone Smith’s stunning haiku, or Bruce Weigl’s nostalgic A Fabulous Night for… Whether you’re a lifelong poet or just starting out, this issue offers something to inspire.
Tribute to Late Bloomers
Grandfather Ascending a Staircase by José A. Alcántara
If We Knew Then by Gil Arzola
Art History by Susan Auerbach
Epitaph for an Unpublished Poet by Tangerine Bell
Vacating by Michael Brosnan
Ungently by Charles Carr
Lend Your Heart to No Thing but God by Allisa Cherry
Cul-de-sacs by Charles S. Cobean
Tempera by Spider Dailey
A Woman, a Man by Juditha Dowd
Never Again by Barbara Ford
Hour Children by Caprice Garvin
Notes on Communication by Michele Herman
Field Mouse Dangling from a Red-Tailed Hawk by Ken Hines
Something Coming by Lester Graves Lennon
Making Love at Our Age by Karen Whittington Nelson
Lanterns by Doug Ramspeck
Saudade by Robert Rice
Neighbors by Lisa Seidenberg
Sad Thing by Lazar Trubman
Open Poetry
Deposition by Sherman Alexie
Bullet by Kai Carlson-Wee
Queer Poetry by Gray Davidson Carroll
Penumbra by Brent Fisk
A Senior’s Villanelle by Lynn Hess
Prayer for a Potential Mass Murderer … by Manuel Iris
Old Maid: A Pecha Kucha by Julie Kane
Benny and the Stillness by Gary Lark
Pretty by Suzanne Lummis
The Body by Al Maginnes
Our Marriage Is a Mountain Range of Dusty Rugs by Chelsea McClellan
My Daughter Calls by Michelle Patton
Dementia Sonnet by Justin Rigamonti
Pain Scale by Richard Siken
[honeysuckle breeze] and Other Haiku by Crystal Simone Smith
The Death of My Shadow by J.R. Solonche
The Opportunities Pantoum by James Valvis
A Fabulous Night for … by Bruce Weigl
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