#American poets

[vox-anglosphere]

[u-mspcoll]

Finding Aid Friday: Jim Cohn Papers

Notebook of “Purple Mountain” in Sli Chorea Dhuibhne (The Dingle Way), 1999.  Jim Cohn Papers, Box 15, folder 3. University of Michigan Library, Special Collections Research Center. 

On this #FindingAidFriday, we are highlighting the recently processed papers of Jim Cohn, poet, writer, recording artist, editor, publisher, and curator of the online Museum of American Poetics. The Jim Cohn Papers (1953-2019) were donated in 2019 and encompass approximately fifteen linear feet of material documenting Cohn’s work across his several vocations through correspondence, research files and drafts, interviews by and of Cohn, published essays and poetry, journals, photographs, and audiovisual materials.

Read more!

[finishinglinepress]

FLP BOOK OF THE DAY: Second Sight by Daryl Hafter

On SALE: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/second-sight-by-daryl-hafter/

The #poems in Second Sight explore the #world of #nature as it speaks to us, enjoying, questioning, and complaining in our shared earthly home. We hear the moaning of a tree being cut down, and the ecstasy of wind-tossed Autumn branches. We learn to bear grief through the screen of mountain forests. But our lived experience goes beyond material things. My adult Bat Mitzvah opened questions. I had new ways of thinking about #Creation and #humanity. I wondered, Why do we have a flawed universe? What is our role in “Tikun Olam”—repairing the world? These poems present glimpses into the rich and full #life surrounding us all.

A poet and historian, Daryl Hafter has published three books on women in eighteenth-century France, with the support of the American Philosophical Society and the National Science Foundation. She has a B.A. from Smith College and a Ph.D from Yale University. Her life-long poetry writing was inspired by growing up in a rural Utopian community called Free Acres. Her home now is Ann Arbor, Michigan.

PRAISE FOR Second Sight by Daryl Hafter

Daryl Hafter‘s poetry is universal and personal and her subjects go far and wide—- a walk in the neighborhood, a tree which has become a friend, a woman fleeing during Exodus from Egypt–a dialogue with herself about the existence of a divinity, the pleasure of reading scriptures, the contradiction of religious belief, doubt. Diverse subjects, always treated with wit and humor.

–Clare Goldfarb, Fmr Chair, English Department, Western Michigan University

In this collection of wonderful poetry, the story each one tells with vivid visual imagery immediately captures the reader’s attention. The writing is direct and powerful, the language is chosen for impact as well as beauty, and the underlying structure is strong. Poems such as the stunning Consolation are unforgettable.

–Monica Starkman, MD, University of Michigan

Daryl Hafter‘s “Second Sight” is a poetic journey through time past as it is given new life in the present, and as a historian, she is well qualified to take such an approach.

There is a sense of spiritual unity in these poems about daily life touched by nature, beautifully illustrated both by the words and the paintings that accompany them.

–Bette W. Oliver, Ph.D., Poet and historian, University of Texas at Austin

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetrybook #read #poems #nature #world #creation #humanity #life #environment #artwork

[edwardian-girl-next-door]

"Let us go forth together to the spring: Love must be this, if it be anything."

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay, sonnet xxviii

[womens-art]

Joanna Klink, "On Falling (Blue Spruce)" from The Nightfields

[ex-libris-mrkd]

Be Honest and True

Be honest and true, boys, Whatever you do, boys, Let this be your motto through life. Both now and forever, Be this your endeavour,  When wrong with the right is at strife. The best and the truest,  Alas! are the fewest; But be one of these if you can. In duty ne’er fail; you Will find ‘twill avail you, And bring its reward when a man. Don’t think life plain sailing; There’s danger of failing,  Though bright seem the future to be; But honour and labour, And truth to your neighbour, Will bear you safe over life’s sea. Then up and be doing, Right only pursuing, And take your fair part in the strife. Be honest and true, boys, Whatever you do, boys, Let this be your motto through life.

by George Birdseye (1800s)

[countesspetofi]

3 Poems by Walt Whitman: No. 2, A Clear Midnight

A Clear Midnight

This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best, Night, sleep, death and the stars.

--Walt Whitman, 1881

[byronicist]

"the body says I am / and the rose sighs Touch me, I am dying / in the pleatpetal purring of mouthweathered May."

Karen Volkman, May (2002)

[the-cricket-chirps]

Gerard Malanga

Patti Smith Tomboy

1971

[collectingforgottenpoetry]

Sing to me once again, till I forget That now we hate, and dream we love on yet. Thy voice, if aught on earth, can wake regret, Sing to me once again, till I forget. Sing; at thy voice the old dream shall arise. Make me thy fool, feed me again with lies, —For I was happier, ere I grew so wise, Sing; at thy voice the old dream shall arise.

Two Songs of Singing, Part I. by Anne Reeve Aldrich. As featured in The Rose of Flame and Other Poems of Love, 1889 edition.

[cabeswvter]

Lauren Moseley

[women-throughout-history]

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson, an American poet, was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent the majority of her days in her hometown, with only brief excursions elsewhere for schooling or visits. Her family, with ties to Amherst College and active participation in local affairs, provided a sturdy foundation for Emily's upbringing. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was a respected lawyer and politician, while her mother, Emily Norcross Dickinson, battled with poor health, drawing Emily into caretaking duties as she grew older. Emily had two siblings, her sister Lavinia and brother Austin

Education played a significant role in Emily's formative years. Her time at Amherst Academy, where she cultivated friendships and wrote for school publications, set the stage for her intellectual pursuits. Later, at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Emily encountered a more structured religious environment, which would later influence her poetic themes of rebellion against societal norms and religious scepticism.

There are many speculations surrounding her affection for individuals such as Charles Wadsworth and Samuel Bowles as well as Judge Otis P. Lord, passionately expressed in her letters to him.  Moreover, Dickinson's relationship with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert is debated too. Dickinson's letters to Susan reveal a depth of affection and intimacy that suggests a significant emotional connection beyond mere friendship.

In April 1862, Emily Dickinson penned a letter to the esteemed literary figure Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in response to his article in Atlantic Monthly titled “Letter to a Young Contributor.” In her letter, Dickinson, seeking guidance and validation for her poetry, enclosed four of her poems and earnestly asked Higginson for his assessment of her work. She expressed uncertainty about the vitality of her verse and pleaded for his honest opinion, stating that she had nobody else to turn to for feedback. Despite his initial reservations, Higginson advised Dickinson to continue refining her poetry before considering publication.

In her later years, Emily Dickinson led an increasingly isolated life. She often wore white and rarely interacted or greeted guests, avoiding social meetings. The deaths of loved ones, including her mother, father, and close friends, profoundly impacted Dickinson, deepening her sense of solitude and melancholy.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180807012709/http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/publications_lifetime

[finishinglinepress]

NEW FROM FINISHING LINE PRESS: Native Language by Michael Beebe

On SALE: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/native-language-by-michael-beebe/

Native Language is a book of #sonnets. The #poems tend to settle into the mind easily, with some grace and usually some mystery. The topics are from #life, of course – human life, its issues and puzzles. Most readers will find some or several poems that speak to them; we are so much alike, really. The #natural #world is the backdrop and always a powerful presence. Still, it is the human world we live in. The author was trained as a philosopher but became a CPA to earn a living and this odd combination perhaps offers a useful way to read the poems.

Michael Beebe earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy and then became a CPA to earn a living. He came to poetry later in life, when sometime in mid-life he found poetry was the only thing he could read, nothing else suitably serious, beautiful and truth-apt all together. Sometime then he began to try to write poetry of his own. He now lives with his wife in retirement in the Portland, Oregon area. He reads philosophy and poetry and works at his writing. This is his eightieth year; he is now reading the poet Stanley Moss to learn how to be very old.

Please share/repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #read #poems #literature #poetry

https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/native-language-by-michael-beebe/

[edwardian-girl-next-door]

A Drunkard cannot meet a Cork Without a Revery— And so encountering a Fly This January Day Jamaicas of Remembrance stir That send me reeling in— The moderate drinker of Delight Does not deserve the spring— Of juleps, part are the Jug And more are in the joy— Your connoisseur in Liquours Consults the Bumble Bee—

Emily Dickinson (#1628)

[womens-art]

Mary Oliver, "The Kingfisher"

[subtextures]

Finished this over the last week. I haven’t read much Creeley outside of anthologies. He falls in The Black Mountain/ Beat poets. Lots of focus on being present and aging. It was a nice read.