Archive / 1990-1999

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Rogers, Pattiann 1998

Wednesday, March 18, 1998

Consider the statement of bone:
Calcium and mineral gathered together and bound
Against the pressures of space, a latched
And maneuverable allegiance to the vertical,
That inner frame of stone determined
To keep constantly in its core the breeding
Red clay of the sea. I can believe
In an assertion like that.

– Pattiann Rogers, “Being What We Are”

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Read this interview with Pattiann Rogers from the Missouri Review:

http://www.missourireview.com/anthology/interview-with-pattiann-rogers

Each single spill of rain makes
many ringing water gongs on the pond,
and the calls of the crow are simply one gong
sounding after the other, circling wider
and farther, rippling the sky
above the rippled pond. Below, a toad bug
swivels near the shore, and many sand grains
shiver like cymbals with the force
of that mallet.

– Pattiann Rogers, “Design of Gongs”

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Watch Pattiann Rogers discuss her early writing ambitions:

Pattiann Rogers | On Science and Art

Pacific University faculty from the MFA in Writing program talk about the program, writing, and their experiences at Pacific. http://www.pacificu.edu/mfa

More info on Pattiann Rogers⇒

Redmond, Eugene 1998

Wednesday, February 11, 1998
with Ana Castillo

Roiled blood, rising like Katrina, floods “Baltimoor,”
harbor of bitter succor that once bore
Cullen’s “furnace” & Billie’s lore…

– Eugene Redmond, “Baltimoor”

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Watch Eugene Redmond read “I Can Never Unlove You:”

I Can Never Unlove You by Eugene B Redmond

Prof. Eugene Redmond reads” I Can Never Unlove You” at Asili night, November 2007, Miami Dade College

More info on Eugene Reddy⇒

Snodgrass, W.D. 1998

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

WD-Snodgrass-001

I taught myself to name my name,
To bark back, loosen love and crying;
To ease my woman so she came,
To ease an old man who was dying.
I have not learned how often I
Can win, can love, but choose to die.

– W. D. Snodgrass, “April Inventory”

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Read this interview with W. D. Snograss from the Paris Review:

The Art of Poetry No. 68

W. D. Snodgrass received one of his profession’s highest honors early on in his career when he won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, in 1960, for his first book of poems, Heart’s Needle. Yet the winning of this coveted prize brought numerous pressures and seductions. Snodgrass…

The eyelids glowing, some chill morning.
O world half-known through opening, twilit lids
Before the vague face clenches into light;
O universal waters like a cloud,
Like those first clouds of half-created matter;
O all things rising, rising like the fumes

– W. D. Snograss, “Monet: ‘Les Nymphéas'”

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Watch W. D. Snodgrass read some of his work:


More info on W.D. Snodgrass ⇒

Prelutsky, Jack 1998

Saturday, October 3, 1998

Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.

– Jack Prelutsky, “Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face”

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Watch an interview with Jack Prelutsky:

Peer pressure

During junior high, Jack Prelutsky believed that poetry was hazardous to his health. Watch this video clip to find out why.

More info on Jack Prelutsky⇒

Peacock, Molly 1997

Wednesday, December 10, 1997

But now at the same time
it splits – half for each.
Our “then” is inside its “now,”
its halved pit unfleshed –

– Molly Peacock, “Couple Sharing A Peach”

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Listen to Molly Peacock’s 1997 reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Watch Molly Peacock’s keynote presentation at the 50 and Better Conference, sponsored by The Loft Literary Center and Hennepin County Library:

Molly Peacock at the Loft

On June 2, 2012 Molly Peacock gave a keynote presentation as part of the 50 and Better Conference, cosponsored by The Loft Literary Center and the Hennepin County Library. Molly Peacock is an award-winning poet, creative nonfiction writer, and author of The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begin’s Her Life’s Work at 72.

A city mouse darts from the paws of night.
A body drops from the jaws of night.
A woman denies the laws of night,
awake and trapped in the was of night. 

– Molly Peacock, “Of Night”

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Read an interview with Molly Peacock from Savvy Verse and Wit:

Interview with Poet and Author Molly Peacock

My review of The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock posted last week. The cover and the illustrations of Delany’s work is stunning, and like the multilayered…

More info on Molly Peacock⇒

Paley, Grace 1999

Wednesday, April 21, 1999

What is sometimes called a
tongue of flame
or an arm extended burning
is only the long
red and orange branch of
a green maple

– Grace Paley, “Autumn”

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Listen to Grace Paley’s 1999 reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Watch Grace Paley read some of her work:

Short story author Grace Paley reads and answers questions

Grace Paley (1922-2007), a short story writer, poet and activist, was New York’s first official state author and later poet laureate of Vermont. Paley’s “Collected Stories” (1994) was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. This rare edition of HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life was videotaped at Howard Community College, October 1988.

Twenty years ago
it was believed that the roots of trees
would insert themselves into gas lines
then fall   poisoned   on houses and children

– Grace Paley, “On Mother’s Day”

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Read an interview with Grace Paley from the Paris Review:

The Art of Fiction No. 131

When Grace Paley visits New York, she stays in her old apartment on West Eleventh Street. Her block has for the most part escaped the gentrification that has transformed the West Village since Paley moved there in the forties. The building where Paley lived for most of her adult life and w…

More info on Grace Paley⇒

Nims, John Frederick 1997; 1998

Wednesday, February 19, 1997
Wednesday, April 29, 1998
A Formal Feeling Comes: A program celebrating multi-formalism
with Debra Bruce, Annie Finch,  Paulette Roeske, and Cin Salach

Glossies of Eden? The slim beached curled
Between rocks and the frill of foam–that’s when
There’s thunder of tunnels and the underworld.

– John Frederick Nims, “from the rapido: la spezia-genova”

Broadside of "from the rapido: la spezia-genova" by John Frederick Nims

Broadside of “from the rapido: la spezia-genova” by John Frederick Nims

Buy this broadside in a series with Debra Bruce, Annie Finch, Paulette Roeske, and Cin Salach⇒

My gun, the color of winter rain and thunder,
Is algebra, poetics, and love’s image.
All which a tired soul would and cannot, this is.

– John Frederick Nims, “Colt Automatic”

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More info on John Frederick Nims⇒

McCray, Maria 1999

Wednesday, January 27, 1999
Mixed Bag Series – 5 Chicago Performance Poets
with Nina Corwin, Kent Foreman, Regie Gibson, and Marvin Tate

Billie sang!     the truth of blooming blood blossoms
the bottomless search-seek for love,
the pitless people, pillaging, plagiarizing,
picking apart

– Maria McCray, “Holliday & Well Worth a Celebration”

Broadside of "Holliday & Well Worth a Celebration" by Maria McCray

Broadside of “Holliday & Well Worth a Celebration” by Maria McCray

Buy this broadside in the Mixed Bags Series⇒

More info on Maria McCray⇒

Muldoon, Paul 1999

Wednesday, April 7, 1999

I’ve done some heavy lifting
And flexed my abs against the absolute
On the monastery farm
I’ve tried and tried the treadmill of the true
But it’s as nothing, schoolmarm,
To what I’ve tried with you

– Paul Muldoon, “Schoolmarm”

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Listen to Paul Muldoon read and discuss his work for the Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Lectures:

I ran into Miss Adventure
At the Bluebird Cafe
I pressed myself upon her
She kinda gave way
I said I’m racked with guilt
For having made so free
She gave her head a tilt
She said don’t you see

– Paul Muldoon, “You Gotta Take Out Milt”

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Read an interview with Paul Muldoon from the Paris Review:

The Art of Poetry No. 87

Paul Muldoon was born in County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, in 1951. He is the eldest of three children. His mother was a primary schoolteacher and his father held many jobs, including mushroom cultivator. Muldoon attended Queen’s University from 1969 to 1973, and remained in Belfas…

More info on Paul Muldoon⇒

Mueller, Lisel 1995; 1997; 2002

Wednesday, December 13, 1995
Monday, May 5, 1997
Thursday, April 18, 2002

From the province of spring everlasting
bring back a rose that remains half-open,
from the drydock of mute old men
bring back the miracle of a tear,
from the delta of good intentions
bring back the seed that will change a life.

– Lisel Mueller, “Spell For A Traveler”

Broadside of “Spell For A Traveler” by Lisel Mueller

Buy this broadside⇒

Listen to Lisel Mueller’s 1995 Poetry Center of Chicago reading:

Audio recording of the Poetry Center Reading Series featuring Billy Collins, Andrei Codrescu, Ron Padgett, Lucille Clifton, Mark Perlberg, Li-Young Lee, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Anne Waldman, Yusuf Komunyakaa, Lisel Mueller, Ted Kooser, Paul Carroll, Jorie Graham, and Paul Hoover.

Audio recording of the Poetry Center Reading Series featuring Billy Collins, Andrei Codrescu, Ron Padgett, Lucille Clifton, Mark Perlberg, Li-Young Lee, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Anne Waldman, Yusuf Komunyakaa, Lisel Mueller, Ted Kooser, Paul Carroll, Jorie Graham, and Paul Hoover.

Buy this audio recording featuring Lisel Mueller⇒

We fitted our shoes with tongues
as smooth as our own
and hung tongues inside bells
so we could listen
to their emotional language,

– Lisel Mueller, “Things”

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Read an interview with Lisel Mueller from Pirene’s Fountain:

http://www.pirenesfountain.com/archives/issue_04/showcase-interview.html

More info on Lisel Mueller⇒

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