Poem of the Week: "As I Walked Out One Evening," by W.H. Auden

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  I'm afraid I have some mildly bad news.  I think this might be the last regular Poem of the Week for a while.  Next semester, I will be very busy, and it's getting harder and harder to find the contemporary poems I like someplace on the web.  If I find a poem that I absolutely have to share, I will most definitely post it here.  Otherwise, don't expect a new poem every Monday.  Sorry. 

But I leave you with a poem I absolutely love.  I've posted it here before, but that's only because it's so awesome.  Also, it seems appropriate for this time of the year's end, when everything is tinged with a kind of nostalgic sadness.  "As I Walked Out One Evening" includes some of my all-time favorite lines of poetry, and I think you'll like it.  Enjoy!

As I Walked Out One Evening, by W.H. Auden 

Poem of the Week: "After the Movie," by Marie Howe

I stole this week's poem from my old poetry professor, who sends out a mass email every Friday with his own Poem of the Week selection.  I really loved this last one he sent, so I decided to post it here as well.  It's a much more narrative-y poem than I usually go for, but for some reason, this one just hits some kind of sweet spot for me.  Enjoy!

After the Movie, by Marie Howe

Poem of the Week: "Remaking a Neglected Orchard," by Nathaniel Perry

When I'm reading a really good book of poetry, I often like to use something from the book as my Poem of the Week.  So that's what I'm doing today.  I bought and started Nathaniel Perry's Nine Acres after witnessing him do a great reading on campus.  Also, not to brag or anything, but I got to have dinner with him and some fellow MFAers, where I found out that he was a former student of my beloved Maurice Manning.  Any of you Manning followers out there will definitely be able to see his influence on Perry's work.  Enjoy, and look for a full review of the book later this week in my monthly Poetry Wrap-Up.

Remaking a Neglected Orchard, by Nathaniel Perry 

Poem of the Week: "Smalltown Lift," by Brian Blanchfield

I'm totally stealing this week's poem from my friend Evan, who brought it to my attention last week.  I think it's just a very lovely, compact poem.  It's not flashy or flighty, which is why I love it.  Enjoy!

Smalltown Lift, by Brian Blanchfield

Poem of the Week: "Reusing Words," by Hal Sirowitz

I tend to like poems that manage to be funny and astute at the same time.  This is one of those kind of poems.  Enjoy!

Reusing Words, by Hal Sirowitz

Poem of the Week: "Allegro," by Tomas Tranströmer

As you've probably heard by now, this year's Nobel Prize in Literature went to the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer.  I'm pretty happy about this, and I went out this weekend and bought a set of his collected poems that I can hopefully find time to read soon.  Tranströmer writes quite a bit about music, and I think his poem "Allegro" might be one of the best music poems I've ever read.  It's wonderful.  Enjoy!

Allegro, by Tomas Tranströmer

Poem of the Week: "Bookmobile," by Joyce Sutphen

This poem isn't exactly eye-catching.  The language doesn't do anything for me, and there's nothing particularly interesting about the poem itself.  But I think the last stanza says something that rings true to any kid from a small town who counted on books to help them escape.  To this day, my local public library is still my escape from real life, as well as a place that has helped define me as a person, for better or worse.  Enjoy!

Bookmobile, by Joyce Sutphen

Poem of the Week: "Spring and Fall," by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The first time I read this famous poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, it annoyed the shit out of me, with its accents and sing-songy opening lines.  But over time, it has really grown on me, and I often find myself reciting it on autumn days.  There's so much packed into this little poem that I can't help but admire it (just look at that beautiful enjambment!).  Also, good luck getting those first two lines out of your head for the rest of the week.  You're welcome.

Spring and Fall, by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Poem of the Week: "Feast of the Ascension, 2004. Planting Hibiscus," by Jay Hopler

Part of being an MFA means sitting through lots of classes in which poetics and theory are discussed.  Sometimes, these discussions are fascinating.  But more often than not, I just feel depressed when people start talking about what is or isn't good contemporary poetry.  Just as I was feeling this way over the weekend, I reread Jay Hopler's book, Green Squall.  The book ends with this wonderful poem that is very much about the current state of poetry and how nature might play a role in getting back at the immediacy of poetic language.  Also, it's just a cool poem.  Enjoy!

Feast of the Ascension, 2004. Planting Hibiscus, by Jay Hopler

Poem of the Week: "The Glass and the Bowl," by Louise Erdrich

I love poems with a lot going on in them - dense language and complex themes.  But I love small, simple poems just as much.  And sometimes when I'm lucky, I find a poem that is capable of putting a lot into very little space.  So is the case with my poem choice this week, Louise Erdrich's "The Glass and the Bowl."  Enjoy!

The Glass and the Bowl, by Louise Erdrich

Poem of the Week: "The Waking" by Theodore Roethke

I've been thinking of Theodore Roethke lately, probably because he always seems to be hovering over my left shoulder as I work on my own poetry.  Anyway, I decided today's poem needed to be a Roethke.  So here is one of his most famous poems, "The Waking," which is written in the very difficult and repetitive villanelle form. 

The Waking, by Theodore Roethke

Poem of the Week: "Incubus," by Craig Arnold

I apologize in advance for the lengthiness of this poem, but it couldn't be helped.  In my poetry workshop, we are reading Craig Arnold's second (and final, as he died a year after it was published) book, Made Flesh.  I really enjoy Arnold's poetry because of the way it mixes narrative drive with lyric intensity in such a masterful way.  I think this is a cool collection, and this poem starts the book off with a bang.  Enjoy!

Incubus, by Craig Arnold

Poem of the Week: "Heaven," Patrick Phillips

I fell in love with this poem when I saw it a couple days ago.  It's poetry at its most simple and soothing.  I hope you enjoy and find comfort in this lovely little poem.

Heaven, by Patrick Phillips

Poem of the Week: "One Art," by Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop is one of those poets that you always get stuck studying in school.  I've had to read a Bishop poem in almost every poetry class I've ever had.  And you know what?  I'm not a fan.  I've tried to like Bishop, to see in her what others have found.  But I can't.  She bores the shit out of me.  Apologies to the literary canon, but it's true.

There is, however, one Bishop poem that I actually like.  In my poetry workshop last week, we discussed her famous villanelle, "One Art."  I love the way the repetitiveness of the villanelle form allows the speaker to get progressively get closer to the personal.  I'm a big fan of poems that start out with big ideas and then zoom into the heart by the end.  This is a prime example, and a fairly humorous one at that.  Enjoy!

One Art, by Elizabeth Bishop

Poem of the Week: "Dew," by Robert Morgan

Sometimes a poem comes around at the perfect time.  Last week, I walked into my yard in the morning and stepped into wet grass.  All around me were these little patches that looked like fine spider webs.  But when I brushed my fingers through them, I found they were actually just webs of morning dew.  It made me so happy that I actually giggled.  And then, just a couple days later, this poem showed up on the Writer's Almanac.  What luck!

Dew, by Robert Morgan

Poem of the Week: "The Swan," by Rainer Maria Rilke

I try not to get too personal on this blog, so I won't go into too many details about a recent death in the family.  It's been a bit of a rough week, but as with most things in my life, I take comfort in the wisdom of good writing.  Rilke is a poet obsessed with death, sometimes in profound ways and sometimes in strange, unsettling ways.  My favorite Rilke poems tend to present ideas about death that, for some reason, comfort me.  This is one of those poems.  It's not a poem about grief but rather a poem about striving for acceptance of the fate we all share.

The Swan, by Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated by Stephen Mitchell

Poem of the Week: "On Last Lines," by Suzanne Buffam

I often talk about  the last lines of poems on this blog.  I am a sucker for the killer ending, as endings make or break a piece of writing for me.  Here's a very short and very astute poem about what last lines are.  It might give you a little more insight into why I put so much stock into endings.  Enjoy!

On Last Lines, by Suzanne Buffam

Poem of the Week: "July," by Kazim Ali

While searching for poetry about the month of July, I found this short poem and fell in love with it, mainly because it uses the word "sipped" in a wonderful way.  I like poems full of things unspoken between the lines, and this poem has both spaces and unsaid words in spades.  Enjoy!

July, Kazim Ali

Poem of the Week: "Firecracker Catalogue," by Jay Hopler

I am cheating big-time this week.  While looking for a poem appropriate for the 4th of July, I couldn't find one I liked nearly as much as the one I used last year, Jay Hopler's "Firecracker Catalogue."  I love this poem.  It's just so much fun!  So I decided to force you all to read it again.  I hope you can forgive me, and I think you will.  Enjoy!

Firecracker Catalogue, by Jay Hopler

Poem of the Week: "The Writer," by Richard Wilbur

As I was going through the Poetry Foundation website looking for this week's selection, I saw this poem and realized I'd never included it here before.  Considering that "The Writer" is one of the first poems I ever loved, I find that hard to believe.  Well, here it finally is.  Enjoy!

The Writer, by Richard Wilbur


Note:  You might have noticed that I'm posting this on a Monday instead of the usual Sunday.  You see, I tend to be off doing more adventurous things (away from my computer) on Sundays this time of year.  For this reason, Poem of the Week postings will take place on Mondays for the rest of the summer.