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Happy 4th of July


America is great, at least its poets have been.  I'd almost lose Shakespeare (sorry Dr Bloom) if I could get to keep Dickinson, Whitman, Frost, WC Williams, K. Fearing, Stevens, Crane, Eliot, Pound, Plath and Lowell. So, on this 4th of July Sunday, it's worth checking out Don Share's blog to see the debate about the new "PLOTUS" - Poet Laureate of the United States - who happens to be recent Pulitzer winner, WS Merwin.  I read Merwin's collection, heavily shadowed by darkness, memory, death, and loss - as is all life - and found it very sorrowful, serious, and lovely - if wearying in one go, but read it in the sun, on Hydra, in June, in a friend's garden.  It seemed to me to be large and valuable writing.  He is a worthy selection.  God bless American poetry.  Or rather, it has been blessed already.  Thank you.
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Michael Farry said…
Yes God Bless America - for some things at least. Bob Dylan in Thomond Park Limerick today for instance!
Sun Jul 04, 08:38:00 am 2010
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