From Wislawa Szymborska‘s Nobel Prize in Literature Lecture, December 7, 1996: I value that little phrase “I don’t know” highly. It’s small, but it flies on mighty wings. It expands our lives to include the spaces within us as well as those outer expanses in which our tiny Earth hangs suspended. If Isaac Newton had [ Read more … ]
poetry
Opening Doors
I heard some amazing poetry on public radio last week. Terry Gross interviewed Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno, a poet whose daughter was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. After her daughter’s death, Kathleen wrote a collection of beautiful, poignant poems, recently published as Slamming the Door Open. One reviewer called her poems “spare, unflinching, and powerful.” I couldn’t [ Read more … ]
Not Silencing Our Songs
The poem below by Cheryl Savageau can be found in her book Dirt Road Home. In addition to her amazing poetry, I love the cover design. So often, books of poetry just don’t have the cool design they deserve. The poem is dedicated to her brother, Ed Savageau. It’s a bit harsh on teachers. Maybe [ Read more … ]
The Distinguished Composure at Our Side…
For several years, I lived in Northwest Montana among a cool crowd of creative, hippie folk. (Before this I had thought that the only interesting people lived in big cities. Boy, was I wrong.) Jyoti was a friend of mine up there. Here's a poem by a friend of hers, Tamika Harmon, another creative Montanan. [ Read more … ]
Our Highest Visions
In 2001, in celebration of National Poetry Month, Robert Siegel (on NPR’s “All Things Considered”) asked the Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz whether poetry was a dying art. “No,” replied Kunitz, “in fact people are more involved with poetry now than I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.” Back in the 1970s, Kunitz wasn’t so optimistic. People [ Read more … ]