This book, How Heavy the Breath of God, is one I return to again and again for its sense of being simultaneously away while also coming home to oneself. The poems are arranged in a travel sequence, starting in tropical locations such as Ecuador and Guatemala and ending up back in the southern U.S., in Texas. While not necessarily literal, the arrangement does feel logical. There’s an outward to inward arc to the work as a whole.
Sometimes what a poem does is remind us of a mood or moment. It conjures up our own memories even if we do not have enough information to understand the poet’s specific memory. The Ou-Yang Hsiu poem, “Far Off Mountains” from Love & Time, translated by J. P. Seaton, works this way.
Poet Elizabeth Bishop’s Armadillo Bobblehead — Or Not How A Place Fires Your Imagination Matters More Than Any Facts About It Have you had the ability to meet a person you’ve admired from afar? No, I don’t mean admire in that…
Simon Armitage is the recently-elected Oxford Professor of Poetry with a long list of poetry publications to his name. But that’s not all. He’s also a memoirist, novelist, screen writer, and playwright. Walking Home is the chronicle of his three…
I’m back a few days now from a business trip to Charleston, South Carolina. And it was just in time. I was really ready for some Spring-like weather, and Charleston didn’t disappoint. I’m starting to post photos from the trip…
