Poems Recently Read

I picked up my copy of 180 More, and instead of picking a random poem, I decided to start with the first one:

"First Hour," by Sharon Olds.

This is a lovely, jarring poem that lifts me out of my immediate life into the moment she's describing.

I immediately wanted to know more of her work, and found a large collection at PoetryFoundation.org. I haven't read them all yet - I want to take them slowly - but I'm anticipating more surprising, welcome alien images.

I am lucky enough to own a couple of volumes of poetry by the amazing A. E. Stallings.

Randomly picking a few poems to read while sipping my tea, I came across "Pencil."

I love the rhymes, the occasional repetition or additional rhyme on the first and third lines.

She's so masterful, so skilled.

Wow, this is just so lovely.

(I never know what to write about poems I like. I really just want to write "Go read it!" in big urging letters.)

Funny; I had thought it rhymed.

I love the things Stallings hears, and notices, the reinterpretations she finds.

This poem, which could be sad or hopeful, makes me happy.

Thanks to Liz Lochhead's "Almost-Christmas at the Writers' House," I discovered Edwin Morgan.

I really like "Trio" - the images are so clear and precise, the ending so full of hope.

(He undoubtedly is referring to Buchanan Street in Glasgow, but I can't help but think of Buchanan in San Francisco. Overlaid associations from different lives.)

I subscribe to two daily poetry email lists: the Poem of the Day from the Poetry Foundation and Poem-a-Day from Poets.org.

A recent Poem of the Day was Tell the Bees by Sarah Lindsay, which intrigued me enough to go look at some of her other works.