Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Tall and Ignorant Servant

One of the things I've been doing a lot of recently is thinking about, reading, and watching poetry.

Thursday (and Friday and Saturday for that matter) I went to the library. Between the right-side fish tank and the fiction new arrivals shelf sat a little table. On it rested a sign (reading "A Poem in Your Pocket Day: sponsored by Jefferson-Madison Regional Library") and a bowl with rolled up scrolls of paper. Would I ever say no to free poetry?

So I grabbed one, slid off the ribbon, and unrolled it to find a poem by Tony Hoagland called "Narcissus Lullaby," which I read while tripping down the stairs to the bottom floor of Clemons. I had read a book by Hoagland (Donkey Gospel) during my second year (for a poetry writing course). Completely forgot he existed. I kind of wish now that I had kept the book instead of selling it back.

Christine (who is not as interested in [written] poetry as I am) got a Robert Frost poem, the same one both times she drew from the bowl. I like Robert Frost (He is an amazing poet), I just sometimes find him a little too heavy-handed in his imagery.

So what poetry do I not find heavy handed? Current favorites include: Seamus Heaney, e. e. cummings, Adrienne Rich, and William Butler Yeats (Yes, I love Irish poets...).
I wanted to put in one or two of my favorite poems, but they are rather long and require quite a bit of unpacking. So instead, I'm including a couple of shorter, more accessible poems:

if you like my poems let them
This Is Just To Say
The Astronaut
Digging

Sorry this post is so disjointed. Hope you enjoyed it anyway.
I love and miss you all,
Ruth

2 comments:

  1. Oh snap! The Greenleaf Review was supposed to do something for that day but didn't :( My favorite poem was "This Is Just To Say". I'm thinking about taking a poetry workshop next spring.

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  2. Do it!! I mean, only if you want to..... I really enjoyed the one I took.

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