This website was created in loving memory of Alvah Allen (March 3, 1968 - December 8, 2019), by his friend, Amy Slaughter. Alvah wrote hundreds of poems and published several haiku/senryu. He also self-published his work through the online magazine he co-founded, Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective (available on both Facebook and Instagram), and on his own Instagram account.
This website features around 80 poems, chosen for a combination of their aesthetic value, their inimitable humor, and their ability to elucidate his quality of mind, gentle character, and life history. Some poems were included just because it’s nice to hear his voice in them again.
The poems are organized chronologically by decade, though those from his last, most prolific decade are also grouped roughly thematically. Alvah took a long hiatus from writing poetry, during which he wrote and performed dozens of songs. He came back to poetry in earnest in 2015. He was largely dismissive of his early work, calling it "juvenilia," but some of the earliest poems are included here to show how native his talent and sensibility were.
You can navigate through this website either through the Table of Contents below, or the expandable sidebar. Comments on this website or suggestions of additional poems to post may be emailed to aslaughter[at]gmail.com. Cover photo credit: Ward Morford.
Please also check out alvahallen.com for a more comprehensive collection of his poems and songs.