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Poetry Focus: Poem by Rae Armantrout

Eyewear is very glad to feature the major American poet Rae Armantrout (pictured) this Saturday in London, and not just because she too wears eyewear.

Professor Armantrout, who is associated with the West Coast Language Poets, studied when younger with Denise Levertov.  She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for her collection Versed, and her book Next Life was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2007.  She has taught for may years at the University of California, at San Diego

BELIEVING



    1

When did you first learn
that the bursts

of color and sound
were intended for you?

When did you unlearn this?


     2

Believing yourself
to have a secret identity
can be a sign
of madness.

On the other hand,
the lack
of a secret identity
can lead to depression.

Many have found it useful
to lie down
as men
believing themselves
to be little girls

or as girls
believing themselves
to be mermaids
stranded
in their own bodies.


poem by Rae Armantrout; reprinted online with permission of the author.



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Janet Vickers said…
Wow. So pleased to learn of Rae Armantrout. Thank you Todd for including poets from the , Canada, UK and others.
Sun Feb 24, 06:42:00 pm 2013
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