Creation
With time I understand and had courage grown
from hope's weak lights, I am not on my own
I sit smiling in everything that I contrive
at the reader, and the odds it may survive
Poetry
Reading: A prayer that will be answered by Anna Kamieńska
Anna Kamieńska (1920-1986) was a Polish poet, literary critic, translator and children's book author. I read a short elegy by her hand, in a translation by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanaugh A prayer that will be answered Lord let me suffer much and then die Let me walk through silence and leave nothing behind not ...
Reading: Cryptozoa by James Tate
Today a 1969 poem by Missouri-born James Tate (1943-2014) who once said that "If you laughed earlier in the poem, and I bring you close to tears in the end, that’s the best." I read this poem because it shows the magic of language and absurdity that Tate handled well: Cryptozoa I wish the stone lady ...
Reading: Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy
Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy (b. 1946) has said "poetry and prayer are very similar". Here is her 1993 poem "prayer": Prayer Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself. So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a ...
Reading: It’s been a long time by Joanne Kyger
Beat poetry is something different. Joanne Kyger (1934-2017), associated with the San Francisco Renaissance, was influenced by Zen Buddhism, lived in Japan, traveled in India with Ginsberg. I like this song of hers: It's been a long time _______________NOTES FROM THE REVOLUTION During the beat of this story you may find other beats. I mean ...
Reading: Aubade by Richard Kenney
Richard Kenney (b. 1948) is an American poet and professor of English. His work has been praised for his deft use of language and formal poetic forms. Today, I read an innocent morning poem: Aubade Cold snap. Five o'clock. Outside, a heavy frost—dark footprints in the brittle grass; a cat's. Quick coffee, jacket, watch-cap, keys. ...
Reading: November by Jane Shore
Jane Shore (b. 1947) is an American poet with a unique voice, often expressing her Jewish heritage. Don't confuse her with a love of King Edward IV :) I found a funny poem entitled 'November': November My north-exposed begonia the first frost got to, spunky in its porcelain pot splays out like spokes of an ...
Poetry is a kind of distilled insinuation. It’s a way of expanding and talking around an idea or a question. Sometimes, more actually gets said through such a technique than a full frontal assault. - Yusef Komunyakaa
Reading: Blood Oranges by Lisel Mueller
Today I read a poem by Lisel Mueller (b. 1924), another Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (in 1996, for her poetry collection Alive together), born in Germany who emigrated to the US as a child. She wrote a famous poem about 'things', but I prefer this one: Blood Oranges In 1936, a child in Hitler's Germany, what ...