Another poet I dug closely in my Serious Midwestern Young Man phase was James Wright. And when I read his poems I still like them on some level. I don't know if liking something is a problem or not. The guy has an ear for poetry. Listen to this:
Two athletes
Are dancing in the cathedral
Of the wind
Sonically that's pretty beautiful. Even if the line breaks are a little clunky. It's from "Spring Images", which can be found in The Branch Will Not Break.
I was heavily influenced by stuff like this for awhile. I tried to write a poem called "Inviolate Child", that was filled with long, mellifluous lines about a kid who lived under a tree in my Dad's backyard or something. I eventually abandoned the project.
4 comments:
He's a genius. Really. Try this sometime - retype four or five of his poems, four or five of Schuyler's of a similar length, print them out, shuffle them, and put them at the bottom of your sock drawer. Five months later, when you run out of socks, take the poems out and see if you like any of them all that much better than the others.
Also? live free.
And who would kill themselves only to wind up in Bridgeport, OH?
Well, I would...as long as he was serious about said wheeling whores being present. Not to mention all the totally cool, non-ironic dive bars that sell beer for less than $1.
The Branch Will Not Break used to be my favorite book.
Yeah that one brings out the warm and fuzzies for me too.
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