Poetry

Reading: Buddhist Barbie by Denise Duhamel
Denise Duhamel (b. 1961) is a poet from Rhode Island who experiments with form and subject, and engages in pop culture. Influences are Dylan Thomas and Kathleen Spivack. Today, I read a short and funny observation: Buddhist Barbie In the 5th century B.C. an Indian philosopher Gautama teaches 'All is emptiness' and 'There is no ...
Reading: The Woods At Night by May Swenson
Anna Thilda May, "May" Swenson (1913-1989) was an American poet and playright, and a very important one with a prolific career. A critic notes that in her poetry, "the sheer thingness of things is joyfully celebrated." She is particularly celebrated for her nature poetry. I read a haunting verse about birds: The Woods At Night The ...
Reading: Words by Dana Gioia
Dana Gioia (b. 1950) is an American poet and writer. I found her theoretical poem about Words for a friend with whom I have an ongoing conversation about language and the other of language. Words The world does not need words. It articulates itself in sunlight, leaves, and shadows. The stones on the path are no less ...
Reading: Personal Letter No. 3 by Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez (b. 1934) is a prolific African American author of twelve poetry books and lots of other stuff. Associated with the Black Arts Movement. I read a short meditation on life and love because I feel like that today: Personal Letter No. 3 nothing will keep us young you know not young men or ...
Don Neon
Don Neon made the best letters in town New businesses came and went, and came again and the comings always involved Don Neon You paid per letter so the town was full of short names: Tom's Tea, Bob's Bowl, Fred's Fork They were proper names and the town shone. Today, I saw all his signs ...
Reading: Flower by Paul Celan
Paul Celan (1920-1970) is of course the best German poet who has ever lived. I don't read the canonical 'Todesfuge' here, you can find excellent analysis on the Internet. I have read a poem about an axe that flowered, but here I stick with a modest poem called "Flower" in translation, that still has all ...
Reading: Homage To My Hips by Lucille Clifton
Lucile Clifton (1936-2010) was poet laureate of Maryland from 1979-1985. She was a prolific and widely respected author. Her writing style is sober and she was mainly concerned with the African American experience. Two of her works were simultaneously nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. I read a poem that I, if you allow me, find hip: Homage ...
Reading: Vulture by Robinson Jeffers
Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) wrote narrative poetry about the Californian coast. He was an icon of the environmental movement who loved nature more than man, influenced by Whitman and Wordsworth. He even called his ideas 'inhumanism' because he desired to change the focus from man to not man. Poets like Robert Hass , William Everson or ...
Piano Concerto
Today I felt something again. It has been a while. I felt something while listening to music: Elation, Otherworldliness. Fate.