Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: Last week we posted a beautiful poem by John Clare, born in 1793 in Helpston, England, which he described as “a gloomy village in Northamptonshire, on the brink of the Lincolnshire fens.” Clare was schooled locally in his village but often forced to abandon school when times were hard … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: Today’s poem, “Inversnaid” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, is included in Ted Hughes’ Poetry in the Making: An Anthology of Poems and Programmes from ‘Listening and Writing.’ In the chapter “Writing about Landscape” he writes, “We all respond to beauty spots … Usually these places are famous for one thing—they … Continue reading A Poem For Thursday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: Today we post a poem chosen in light of the chapter “Capturing Animals” from Poetry in the Making: An Anthology of Poems and Programmes from ‘Listening and Writing,’ a series we introduced yesterday that was designed by the poet Ted Hughes for the BBC in the 1960s and addressed … Continue reading A Poem For Sunday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: The English poet Ted Hughes presented a series of BBC programs in the 1960s addressed primarily to children to help them feel at home with writing poetry. “In these talks,” he wrote, “I assume that the latent talent for self-expression in any child is immeasurable.” These were later anthologized … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: A new volume of poetry by Kevin Simmonds, Bend to It, arrives with praise from the celebrated California poet D.A.Powell, winner of both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Award, who has said of Simmonds’ new poems, “Piercing the veil of a culture of silence, Kevin … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: We post poems by gay poets all year long, naturally, and this weekend and next, we’ll feature three each by the Italian poet Patrizia Cavalli, who lives in Rome, and Kevin Simmonds, an American who lives in San Francisco. Cavalli has been a favorite of many friends of mine … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes: From May 17th through September 7th, The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx presents Great American Gardens and The Women Who Designed Them, an exhibit highlighting the achievements of some of the most prominent women in early 20th century landscape design. A poetry walk on the grounds features poems by … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
by Alice Quinn “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy: “Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin! “But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his … Continue reading A Poem For Monday
by Alice Quinn From “The Colored Soldiers” by Paul Laurence Dunbar: If the muse were mine to tempt it And my feeble voice were strong, If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song. I would sing a song heroic Of those noble sons of Ham, Of the gallant colored soldiers … Continue reading A Poem For Sunday
by Alice Quinn John Hollander, who died in August 2013, published scores of books, including more than twenty collections of poetry and a superb book on poetic form entitled Rhyme’s Reason. He was an exemplary learned man—inexhaustibly inspiring, witty, charming, and dear. In the obituary in The New York Times, Margalit Fix quoted fellow poet … Continue reading A Poem For Saturday
