THE GREAT MAUMEE CATTLE DRIVE (excerpt)
for Ron Johnson

last night the old film, Red River,
came into my dream.
the silhouette at first light,
high on a bluff, the worn hero,
the steady steed.
the herd below, a dark mass
milling, murmuring.
only as the light grows
do i understand.

It’s you Johnson!
and the Maumee outside Napoleon!
and in the growing sun
the gold flash of eyes.
they’re cats! two thousand head, at least,
purring, their fur electric in the dawn….
by David Adams

Strawberry (by Paisley Rekdal)
I am going to fail.
I’m going to fail cartilage and plastic, camera and arrow.
I’m going to fail binoculars and conjugations,
all the accompanying musics: I am failing,
I must fail, I can fail, I have failed
the way some women throw themselves
into lover’s arms or out trains,
fingers crossed and skirts billowing
behind them….
for the rest of this poem check out http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/2007/04/21/paisley_rekdal_reads.html

Monica commented: “For me, poetry that is beautiful is poetry that makes us brave, that instills in us another view of the world, particularly of our greatest fears – to see them not just as conquerable, but bountiful, if we would just allow ourselves that reward. This is by Paisley Rekdal, of “The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee” as well as three books of poetry.”

For her next selection, she read Advice by Suzanne Wise and added: “I consider this poem an anthem for progress. It by Brooklyn poet Suzanne Wise, author of Kingdom of the Subjunctive.”

Advice by Suzanne Wise (excerpt)
It is time for you to stop trying to be so smart.
It is time to abandon those plans for aqueducts,
canals, sewers. It is time to burn your boats,
to jump into the next free dingy, to run
yourself aground on foreign land. It is time
to smash every inhibition on the shores of progress….

http://www.readab.com/swise.html

And finally, Monica shared: “When I ask myself why one would give up all of one’s time, comfort, and sanity to the creative struggle, I find myself coming back to this poem by the Chinese poet Shu Ting (b.1952). This female factory worker from the Fujian province, emerged out of the Cultural revolution as one of China’s best-known contemporary poets. This poem “Perhaps” is translated by Carolyn Kizer.”

Perhaps . . .(excerpt)
for the loneliness of an author

Perhaps these thoughts of ours
will never find an audience
Perhaps the mistaken road
will end in a mistake
Perhaps the lamps we light one at a time
will be blown out one at a time…..

For more information on Carolyn Kizer read: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=3779

What a great selection! Thanks for sharing these Monica!

Here is a sampling of Sharon Olson’s poem selection from the evening along with her bio and her introductory comments on why these poems mean so much to her.

Sharon Olson is a retired librarian and active poet, a native Californian who moved to Guilford, Connecticut, in 2008. Her full-length book of poems, The Long Night of Flying, was published by Sixteen Rivers Press in 2006. Her work has appeared most recently in Arroyo Literary Review, Crab Orchard Review, U.S. 1 Worksheets, and The Sand Hill Review.

ENJOY!

The 3 favorite poems Sharon talked about were:

My taste in poetry is a little like my taste in interior decoration, and it’s very changeable. Sometimes I prefer chintz and cabbage roses and other times I’m all for Swedish pine cabinets and sturdy chairs. I am consistently drawn, however, to poems with a confident, trustworthy voice, even though that voice might be travelling down a surreal path. I might even consider myself a left-brain poet, slightly analytical and objective. I find it interesting that Wallace Stevens was an insurance executive, and William Carlos Williams a medical doctor, and Miroslav Holub, my first favorite poet, an internationally respected scientist from the former Czechoslovakia. Here is his poem entitled “Wings.”

“Wings” by Miroslav Holub. Here’s a link to the poem: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=181466

My life as a young woman was full of ill-advised entanglements. In my “objective state” I recognized that the state of being “in love” was often an enticement to duck out of the real world entirely, leave one’s friends, spend time only with the beloved, coming up for air only when one had to, but once in the romantic mode, it was hard to find the switch that would turn a person back to normal. I have always found David Ignatow’s poem “Rescue the Dead” a wry view of this helpless state we have all found ourselves in from time to time.

“Rescue the Dead” by David Ignatow. Here’s a link to the poem: http://www.webdelsol.com/ignatow/di-2.htm

My third favorite poem was one I shared on the stage last year at the Festival of Arts and Ideas, as it was one of the ones selected to be performed as part of Robert Pinsky’s Favorite Poem Project. I told the audience how I had just met the man I would later marry, and had then left on a long vacation. It was the fourth of July and I could hear fireworks in the distance. I had brought along with me Adam Zagajewski’s book Canvas. I opened it to the first poem, “Lullaby.” The poem seemed prophetic, as if I were somehow destined to read that poem that night.

“Lullaby” by Adam Zagajewski. Here’s a link to the poem: http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/02/books/bk-49200

It is my favorite poem because of its simplicity in conveying a modern-day truth. We are taught to strive for an “American Dream,” and yet while we strive we are missing out on the American life; I am guilty of this.

It is small homage given the wonderful gifts she’s provided the poetry community but I thought I might share a favorite poem. While I can think of many personal favorites by Lucille Clifton, ‘Sorrows’ seems the most appropriate given her passing. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20588

Poets.org has information about Lucille Clifton and other poems you might like to view. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/79

‘Who would believe them winged” indeed. Ms Clifton, Thank you for sharing your poems with us. You will be missed.

The Look by Sara Teasdale
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19419

It’s one of the first poems I remember reading when I was young. Back then I loved the reference to the birds. As an adult, I am drawn to the sense of regret over lost opportunity that it evokes. What makes it even more special to me is how few words it took to create this immediacy of feeling.