My favorite line from Wes Anderson’s film Asteroid City is “Everything is connected but nothing is working.” Spend some time considering this phrase and use it to begin a poem where robust connection contributes to rupture. Resist the obvious examples emerging from our current cultural and political climate. Don’t mention or allude to social media or tech in general. Look more for small, subtle instances that no one would otherwise know about.

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Lee Potts (he/him) is the editor-in-chief of Stone Circle Review and the author of two poetry chapbooks: We’ll Miss the Stars in the Morning (Bottlecap Press, 2024) and And Drought Will Follow (Frosted Fire, 2021). From 2020 to 2023, he served as the poetry editor at Barren Magazine and was co-editor of Painted Bride Quarterly in the late 80s and early 90s. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, his work has appeared in The Night Heron Barks, Rust + Moth, Whale Road Review, UCity Review, Firmament, Moist Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. He lives just outside of Philadelphia with his wife, the last kid still at home, and two cats, Franny and Zooey.