June 16, 2006

Poetry Friday: Laureates, late and latest

In honor of the new Poet Laureate, and a past Laureate, some links and a poem:

A selection of poetry by Donald Hall; and by his late wife, the poet Jane Kenyon, from the very nice University of New Hampshire Library website;

Poet laureate poetry for children: Hall's Ox-Cart Man, illustrated by Barbara Cooney; and,

The Academy of American Poets page for Stanley Kunitz, who died last month at the age of 100, with a biography and links to several poems and interviews.

Peonies at Dusk
by Jane Kenyon

White peonies blooming along the porch
send out light
while the rest of the yard grows dim.

Outrageous flowers as big as human
heads! They're staggered
by their own luxuriance: I had
to prop them up with stakes and twine.

The moist air intensifies their scent,
and the moon moves around the barn
to find out what it's coming from.

In the darkening June evening
I draw a blossom near, and bending close
search it as a woman searches
a loved one's face.

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