The Nature of Things

The Librarian of Congress has announced that the next poet laureate of the United States will be Charles Wright. Wright is originally from Pickwick Dam, Tennessee. Coincidentally, I was in that area at the time that the announcement of his appointment was made, but I didn't hear about it until later. I must confess that I am not familiar with the work of the man, who is a former professor at the University of Virginia and the author of 24 collections of poetry, but he is a much honored poet. He is described as taking Nature and spirituality as his major themes. In truth, I think that could be said of about ninety percent of poets. I found this example of his work in Good Poems, American Places , selected by Garrison Keillor for his NPR feature "The Writer's Almanac." Looking West from Laguna Beach at Night by Charles Wright I've always liked the view from my mother-in-law's house at night, Oil rigs off Long Beach Like floating lanterns out in the smog-dark Pa...

The Library of Congress has chosen a new Poet Laureate of the United States.  His name is Philip Levine.  I must confess I don't remember having heard of him before today. The fact that I had not heard of him is just more proof of my cultural ignorance because he is an award-winning poet.  He's won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, among other awards.  At 83 years old, he is the oldest poet laureate ever chosen and his main topic is not one that we normally think of as inspiring poetry.  He is a poet of the working class.  He constructs poems from the everyday work of ordinary people. The bits and pieces of his poetry that I found online today were very evocative and I think he merits a closer look.  For example, there were these lines from his 1999 poem "He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do." Fact is, silence is the perfect water: unlike rain it falls from no clouds to wash our minds, to ease our tired eyes, to give heart t...