Tag: poet
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“Fabric” by Bruce Snider
I do not know how I missed this in May, but this was shared by my friend Brian Dean Powers when he was guest blogging on Words for the Year. I somehow came across this today and it is, I think, one of the most powerful poems I’ve ever read. And so, I wanted to share…
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Stevie Smith’s Birthday Bog

That’s not a typo. I did say “bog.” You’ll understand soon enough. Happy birthday to poet Stevie Smith, born Florence Margaret Smith. Had she lived she would be 114 years old today, though I’m sure she’d be annoyed about it. As it was she lived only 69 years, and while you may know nothing about…
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William Stafford Weekend
Okay, so he was born in January. That actually might explain a lot about the icy, cold beauty in some of his poems, like his famous “Traveling through the Dark,” and “Ask Me,” which begins with those delicious words, “Sometime when the river is ice . . . ” But I was born in September,…
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Flashback Friday, Overvision
Is Flashback Friday still a thing? Are people still hashtagging this? Or has #ThrowbackThursday stolen the show? What can I say? I like flashing, and my throw is always a little late for whoever is up at bat on Thursday. So here’s a rewind to 2012 when I read my poem, “Overvision,” at Poetry Under…
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Swing, a School Bus Poem
In keeping with the request that I share more of my published poems, here’s a clip from part of a longer reading at the Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel in Northumberland Pennsylvania. Two months later this poem appeared in the pages of Contemporary American Voices alongside the excellent poets Brian Fanelli and Jason Allen. Swing While I was…
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One Art, 17 Drafts
A little over a year ago I recorded again one of my all-time favorite poems, Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art.” It was part of a recurring Valentine’s Day series called “Love Poems You Wish You Had Written.” I suppose the post is worth re-reading, especially since it mentions my favorite professor and celebrates the reunion of…