(Thanks Jilly!)
From the New York Times:
A reserved writer who has been compared to Emily Dickinson, Ms. Ryan has been chosen to succeed Charles Simic as the nation’s 16th poet laureate.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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8 comments:
GASP!
Why didn't they call you?
I must track down the nominating committee....
PS: I'm running a contest on my blog... check out my entry from Monday.
TO DREAM OF SKATING ON ICE
“To dream of skating on ice means satisfaction with a current project.”
--Dictionary of Dreams
Amidst white groves
Inside a lilac tree
I gaze at airy flights across a frozen lake.
Like soaring birds
We are all of us, skating on ice.
Spanning circuits
Dense, ring-shaped,
Effortless,
Dazzling as a diamond dream
Before the break.
Beneath the brightness, I see a shadow
And the semblance watches me.
A shrill remembrance,
The impervious stare of quartz:
A trade-off between tomorrow and the past.
The break below faces a ruptured skyline.
Its path
Squalls out for meaning.
The meaning is the sea.
I seize the mirror and the likeness mirrors me.
Beneath the brightness, a shadow floats
Under a pond of ice.
Freezing up in time and space
I drift inside the memory of a winter’s whorl,
Headed to where I came from.
I have a poem by Kay Ryan in my favourite poets folder.
Thank goodness that in the US, poet laureates (poets laureate?) don't have to write bad poems for state occasions, the way that they do in the UK
Catherine, Kay Ryan is one poet I know little about. So I look forward to getting to know her work better.
Which poem is your favorite?
Istvan, thanks for your beautiful poem. Love the way you start it with the epigraph.
Erin, I must have been at the beach with the kids when the call came in. Next time!
I hadn't heard of her, but that makes it exciting. We will all be familiar with her work before too long.
Jan, it's called "Star Block" and is in a book called "Say Uncle" published by Grove Press. (It was on Poetry Daily, but that was a few years back, so I guess it's not there any more)
i'm not familiar with her either. thanks for posting this, i'll be sure to look her up.
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