Coming soon to your poetry slam

Our resident poet and, oh yeah, web manager Dale Hobson shared this link on our Facebook page today. It’s a story from NPR about some of the more exciting poetry expected to be published in the coming year. What really caught my eye was the Frank Bidart volume, Metaphysical Dog: Poems. Probably very little to do with dogs in this new book from one of our country’s most revered poets, but the dog got me.

Also reminded me of a longstanding favorite collection edited by Clarkson professor, poet, translator and occasional Readers & Writers co-host, Joe Duemer. It’s called Dog Music and I still keep it on the shelf above my desk so I can open it from time to time.

As always, your suggestions encouraged and welcome. Which poets, particularly living poets, are among your favorites?

1. Mr. Wakiki says:

   May 10, 2013 at 11:01 am

      sheets in the wind xiii

   there are
   clouds lost
   in the blue sky
   searching for
   the horizon

   floating like white
   rubber ducks in
   colbalt water at
   the county fair

   a gentle
   laundry day breeze
   nudges the clouds
   in a sleepy ballet

   and sailboats
   reminiscent of clouds

   languish like lusty lovers

   on a beautifully
   sunny day that
   all my desire is
   hung out to dry

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2. Mr. Wakiki says:

   April 27, 2013 at 12:26 pm

      sheets in the wind viii

   with scientific design
   i place my hands on
   the evolution of your hips

   pulling pantie elastic
   through the cleats

   trimming the sheets
   fluffing the luff and heeling
   to a comfortable slant

   using geometry to find
   your tangents

   then finding a way
   from point a to point maybe
   and from maybe to honeycomb

   using a compound fractions
   to divide your resistance

   using a slide ruler and
   a slice of pi to calculate
   your moral instability

   a sweet little story how
   first there was an ape
   then ape crazy desire

   and there i am to lumber
   up and down your planks

   like a missing link on a
   chain of events

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3. Mr Wakiki says:

   April 2, 2013 at 1:50 pm

   trout fishing xx

   stringing up the reel
   sliding the rod together

   sorting the flies
   and streamers

   hoping

   for the nibble
   the action of your kiss

   dreaming of tan lines
   and bug spray

   of rubbing lotion
   on your back and
   not stopping there

   hoping

   for the adrenaline
   of the catch, the tension
   and the release

   of desire

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4. Mr. Wakiki says:

   March 20, 2013 at 1:06 am

   trout fishing xv

   the poems
   have no limit
   but i believe in
   catch and release

   though i harbor
   thoughts
   of hooking one

   that i roast over
   a camp fire built
   on a rock beach

   telling stories
   about second graders

   with your laughter echoing
   like a loon from one shore
   to the other

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5. Mr. Wakiki says:

   March 15, 2013 at 2:04 am

   yes

   the word
   floats on the page

   descending inside
   thoughts that now
   like the space between
   the ringing of a bell

   there is, but might not
   be a deeper meaning

   it is you who must
   scrap the etching from
   the page and dust the grains
   that remain

   into a pocket
   you keep all your
   building blocks for dreams
   in

   and affirm what the future
   of though must be

   when it is exploding from
   the context of

   the word

   reply