Oh reading these amazing words is making me want to write and write. That's a good thing and not only because of Sunday's project. I had the utter inexplicable honor of giving my very first reading (both poetry and a story excerpt) at the same podium in the same room on the same day for the same event as today's poet. Marilyn Hacker. It seems a different life, now. It was. I had won an award from the English department at the University of Kentucky and was invited to read; she was at the university for something Women's Studies-related and was invited to read at our awards ceremony. She was just incredible. She read her poems as if each word were a piece of exquisite candy in her mouth. Afterwards, I approached her with shaking hands and she - miraculously, graciously - gifted me with the copy of her book she had read from (bookmarks and all)! The inscription included the words "I know I'll be hearing about and reading you soon."
Remembering that, I honestly don't know how I can keep putting it off.
Anyway. Here is the first poem of hers I ever read, from Winter Numbers. I'm only going to link to it here (instead of pasting it) because poets.org has permission to print it and I do not. But I hope you'll read it. It's called Nearly a Valediction.
My favorite love poems of Hacker's come from her book Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons. Generally I'm intrigued by poetry collections that tell a story, and this one tells a love story - start to finish - through poems. They are mostly sonnets but are just as situated in the language, rhythm and details of contemporary living as they are in the tradition of Petrarchan love poems. She is a master of formal poetry, and in my opinion what makes her masterful is that it is possible to not even notice the forms. Her poems sound as if she were speaking to you. Or as if you were listening in on her phone conversations. The book is an outstanding artwork in the world of words of love. Check it out.
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