Meandering home

Reading: Paper People by Harry Baker

Harry Baker (b. 1992) is a slam poetry champion who used to study math. An enticing combination that makes for some interesting slam poetry. Today I read "paper people", a lovely allegory for society culminating in a touching personal reminder. I quote the entire poem here with his kind permission (how #twitter makes our life ...

25 June, 2020

allegory, anthology, Harry Baker, humanity, paper, slam poetry

Poetry

Reading: Writing a résumé by Wisława Szymborska

Fellow Dutch poet Martijn Benders mentioned a poem by the famous Wisława Szymborska that I didn't know yet. I like it so here it is. Writing a résumé What needs to be done? Fill out the application and enclose a résumé. Regardless of the length of life a résumé is best kept short. Concise, well-chosen ...

27 December, 2018

anthology, Bureaucracy, life, resume, Szymborska

Poetry

Reading: River by Sharon Black

In the depths of the Internet I found a poetry competition called "Poetry on the lake" that published last year's winning poems. I am impressed enough to read one here. River To enter naked is to feel no shock, no swift laceration – more a swallowing of the self, a softening of edges by metallic tang ...

10 November, 2018

anthology, finding, gift, river

Poetry

Reading: Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Shel Siverstein (1930-1999) was an American painter, poet and songwriter. I read a sweet little poem about the end of the line. Where the sidewalk ends There is a place where the sidewalk ends and before the street begins, and there the grass grows soft and white, and there the sun burns crimson bright, and ...

22 October, 2018

anthology, children, death, sidewalk, Silverstein

Poetry

Reading: Nocturnal Sailing by Mario Wirz

Mario Wirz (1956-2013) was a German poet and writer who started his career as theater actor and director. I read a poem in a translation by Renate Latimer: the wind in your dream swells the curtains into a sail tears asunder all the things we have collected in the fearful light of the bedside lamp ...

8 September, 2018

anthology, love, Mario Wirz, sailing

Poetry

Reading: Sudden Movements by Bob Hicok

Bob Hicok (1960) is a poet from Michigan who writes accessible and meditative poetry. He currently teaches creative writing at Purdue University. My father's head has become a mystery to him. We finally have something in common. When he moves his head his eyes get big as roses filled with the commotion of spring. Not ...

22 August, 2018

anthology, Bob Hicok, father, illness, love

Poetry

Reading: Carson McCullers by Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was a legendary American poet, and writer of novels and short stories. I read a summer poem presented to me on a poetry website: Carson McCullers she died of alcoholism wrapped in a blanket on a deck chair on an ocean steamer. all her books of terrified loneliness all her books about the ...

18 August, 2018

anthology, Bukowski, death, McCuller

Poetry

The Pleasures of an Ordinary Life by Judith Viorst

Judith Viorst (b. 1931) is among other things an American writer and psychoanalysis researcher. She is known for her children's books and witty poetry. I read a sober summary of the pleasures of an ordinary life: I've had my share of necessary losses, Of dreams I know no longer can come true. I'm done now ...

8 August, 2018

anthology, Judith Viorst, life

Poetry

Reading: Fatherland by Mansur Rajih

Mansur Rajih (b. 1958) is a Norwegian poet and human rights activist with Yemeni roots. I found this translation of one of his poems online: Fatherland Do not despair, my friend: The light that shines on our land will remain chaste. We still have time. Maybe next year, the year after- it will be enough. ...

5 August, 2018

anthology, Yemen

Poetry

Reading: Blackberry Picking by Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) was a giant of Northern Irish poetry. He translated Beowulf into lively, modern language. Heaney was an immensely popular ambassador of poetry. I have read a poem about strange fruits by Heaney before, and today I read again a detailed fruity allegory of our life: Blackberry Picking Late August, given heavy rain and sun ...

3 August, 2018

anthology, fruit, Seamus Heaney

Poetry

Reading: In Jerusalem by Mahmoud Darwish

Today I read a poem by Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008) in a translation by Fady Joudah. Darwish was born in Galilee, in a village that doesn't exist anymore. He lived in exile in Beirut and Paris and published a lot of books. I know that he was considered a 'resistance poet' and served on an executive committee of the ...

24 July, 2018

anthology, Jerusalem, Mahmoud Darwish

Poetry

Reading: Lost Love by Gregory Djanikian

Gregory Djanikian (b. 1949) is an Egyptian born American poet with Armenian roots. He writes about the emigration experience, in particular about the way the English language is enriched by immigrants. I read a love poem today: Lost Love Someone is walking up and down the street crying “My lost love, my lost love!” without ...

9 July, 2018

anthology, Gregory Djanikian, love

Poetry

Reading: Between the Sultan and His Statue by Yusuf al-Saigh

Yusuf al-Saigh (1933-2006) was an Iraqi poet who has published poetry since the 1950s. He also worked as an illustrator and painter. I read a short verse that nicely renders the working of symbolic authority: Between the Sultan and His Statue A wily sculptor Cut several pounds off the sultan’s figure And added several pounds ...

7 July, 2018

anthology, autority, Iraq, Yusuf al-Saigh

Poetry

Reading: Eating Together by Li-Young Lee

Li-Young Lee (b. 1957) is a American poet born to Chinese exiles. His father, who plays an important role in his poetry, was the personal physician to Mao Zedong. His poetry has been compared to John Keats, Rilke and Roethke and he was influenced by old Chinese poems like Tu Fu, which shows in his economic use ...

29 June, 2018

anthology, death, eating, father, Li-Young Lee

Poetry

Reading: Currying the Fallow-Colored Horse by Lucie Brock-Broido

Lucie Brock-Broido (1956-2018) was an American poet who said that a poem is a 'thing that wounds'. Her poetry looks and sounds original, but she was influenced by Emily Dickinson and Wallace Stevens. Currying the Fallow-Colored Horse And to the curious I say, Don’t be naïve. The soul, like a trinket, is a she. I ...

28 June, 2018

anthology, Lucie Brock-Broido

Poetry

Reading: Dusk by Rae Armantrout

Rae Armantrout (b. 1947) is one of the founding members of the West Coast group of Language poets (language poetry: started in the 1970s; language dictates meaning; reader participates in constructing meaning) . Her poetry is characterized by the clashes of the elements they are composed of. She has said that she is seeking to ...

23 June, 2018

anthology, dusk, language poem, Rae Armantrout

Poetry

Reading: Lines on my face by J.D. McClatchy

J.D. McClatchy (1945 - 2018) was a prolific poet, editor, critic and librettist from Pennsylvania. He was praised for his polished and erudite verse. Lines on my face Decades now of looking back at it— in some old satellite’s rearview mirror, say— has something to show beyond the folds and feeders, the volumes of magma ...

22 June, 2018

anthology, face, J.D. McClatchy

Poetry

Reading: Wedding by Alice Oswald

Alice Oswald (b. 1966) is an Oxford-educated classicist and award-winning poet. She has written poetically about ecology and wrote her own take on the Iliad. Her 2016 book is called "Falling Awake". I read the 1996 poem "Wedding": Wedding From time to time our love is like a sail and when the sail begins to alternate from tack to ...

20 June, 2018

Alice Oswald, anthology, sonnet, Wedding

Poetry

Reading: The Hug by Thom Gunn

Thom Gunn (1929-2004) was an English poet. I've read another verse (tamer and hawk) by his hand before. Today I read a simple poem that says something I find lovely. The Hug It was your birthday, we had drunk and dined Half of the night with our old friend Who'd showed us in the end To a ...

5 June, 2018

anthology, hug, love, Thom Gunn

Poetry

Reading: Death of a friend by Rob van Moppes

Rob van Moppes (b. 1948) is a Dutch writer. I am his friend on social media and discovered this tender song-like poem today, so I decided to include it in my series. Death of a friend We met only two years before. Eyes sparkled when she spoke. We talked about the masks we wore, Considered ...

2 June, 2018

anthology, death, love, suicide

Poetry

Reading: Of Darker Ceremonies by Phillip B. Williams

Phillip B. Williams (b. 1986) is the youngest poet I have read here so far, seven years younger than myself. He is from Chicago and is currently teaching at Bennington college. I read something I found that was inspired by hip hop: After “E. 1999 Eternal” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Dear god of armed robberies and ...

24 May, 2018

anthology, hip hop, Phillip B. Williams

Poetry

Reading: Green Grapes by Yuk-Sa Lee

Yi Yuksa (1904-1944) was a well-known Korean poet and independence activist. As one of Korea's most famous poets, he and his works symbolize the spirit of the Korean anti-Japanese resistance of the 1930s and 1940s. The pseudonym he used, (이육사) also means 264, the prisoner number assigned to him. His real name was 이원록, Lee ...

21 May, 2018

anthology, grapes, Yuk-Sa Lee

Poetry

Reading: So Little Depends by Miguel-Manso

Miguel Manso (b. 1979) is a Portuguese poet born in Santarém. He has written eight books of poetry. I read a verse with a title that appealed to me, 'so little depends': The original is on the website of Poetry International. So Little Depends you prefer the corner, the hidden place the foliage, the shadow, ...

19 May, 2018

anthology, Miguel Manso

Poetry

Reading: The Daughter by Carmen Giménez Smith

Carmen Giménez Smith (b. 1971) is a new York poet who teaches in New Mexico. I read a poem from her 2013 book 'Milk and filth': The Daughter We said she was a negative image of me because of her lightness. She's light and also passage, the glory in my cortex. Daughter, where did you get all that ...

15 May, 2018

anthology, Carmen Giménez Smith, daughter, Milk and Filth

Poetry