A brief article and photograph by Kevin Arnold Ray’s marriages were provocative. One of my poet friends, Deidre Farrington Schoolcraft, can become piqued at Raymond Carver because, even after his first wife Maryann’s continual sacrifices for him, Ray divorced her and, by marriage, bestowed the rights to Ray’s work to Tess. Deidre wrote a poem about it: I Wake Up Angry with Raymond Carver For Maryann Burk Carver I wake
This continues the series of columns that highlights a much-loved poem and other poems that speak to, or resonate with, that poem. This week features “The Weary Blues,” crafted by Langston Hughes. The two related poems are “The Blues Don’t Change” by Al Young and “Slow Drag Blues” by Kevin Young. (While they share the same surname and were both Stegner Fellows, Al and Kevin are unrelated). The Poetry Foundation
This is the sixth in a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem, and a second poem that speaks to, or resonates with, that poem. This week’s poem is “Another Dog’s Death,” written by John Updike around 1989. The Poetry Foundation states, “An acclaimed and award-winning writer of fiction, essays, and reviews, John Updike has also been writing poetry for most of his life. Growing up in Pennsylvania, his
![Spring Day [Bath], US Represented](https://i0.wp.com/usrepresented.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/underwater-porttait-with-tattoo-1.jpg?resize=685%2C425&ssl=1)
This is one in a series of columns that examines a much-loved poem, and poems that speak to, or resonates with, that poem. Featured is “Spring Day [Bath],” crafted by Amy Lowell (1874-1925) in 1914 or 15. The Poetry Foundation states: “An oft-quoted remark by poet Amy Lowell applies to both her determined personality and her sense of humor: ‘God made me a business woman,’ Lowell is reported to have quipped, ‘and I
This is part of a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem, and other poems that speaks to, or resonate with, the first poem. This week’s poem is “Requiem,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson. This poem was carved into Stevenson’s gravestone. The line that attracted me was “Glad did I live and gladly die.” Some critics consider this a bold lie, but I prefer to think of it as a remarkably existential
This is the eighth in a series of columns that feature a much-loved poem and a second poem that speaks to, or resonates with, that poem. This week’s poem is “Oatmeal,” written by Galway Kinnell in the late 1980s. Kinnell was Poet Laureate of Vermont from 1989 to 1993 and a Nobel prizewinner. A follower of Walt Whitman, most of Kinnell’s tightly-crafted poems reject the idea of seeking fulfillment by
