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The Three Voices
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H. R. Hays and Trump Nation
When I read this morning that Donald Trump’s “pep rally” tonight in Mobile, Alabama is being moved to the 43,000-seat Ladd-Peebles because 35,000 tickets to the event have been distributed, this poem by H. R. Hays came to mind. It first appeared in 1969, I believe, in George Hitchcock’s Kayak magazine. THE OLD WOMAN Who sits in her yard Every day Beside a flag Tied to a stick Is trying to Nail down America. She is afraid It will take off From under her feet, Piloted by long-haired Chinese astronauts. Hays is perhaps most remembered as the editor of 12…Read More
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Me and My Betters…
Join me and a number of my betters—Veronica Patterson, Bob King, and sundry others—for a free reading at the Loveland Public Library at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, August 21st. And/or come to the free poetry workshop the next morning, Saturday, August 22nd, from 10 a.m. to noon. We’ll explore the injunction delivered by “a nimbus-clouded voice” to the poet Stanley Kunitz in a dream: “Live in the layers,” the voice told him, “not on the litter.” I think it was speaking to all of us who feel moved to write poems! So we’ll be working to understand what it means to “live…Read More
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Tamura Ryuichi: The Inner Pathway
I believe what is most important for a poet is the point in time and place at which he discovers his own archetypal poem. That is because this archetype represents the entirety of the “mapless journey” he is destined to take, and contains therein all concepts of time, death and love as a single entity. It seems to me that a poet perilously travels through the discovery and re-discoveries of the archetype, and his journey takes the form of battles against his own archetype. * To a poet, imagination is the energy that ceaselessly stimulates and re-creates his passion. Unless…Read More
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Invitation to Colorado Poets—Ekphrasis x 2 (Note Highlighted ¶)
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Adios, Hiatus
After my marathon of posts in April, celebrating Poetry Month, I took a hiatus and gave myself over to reading (Roderick Beaton’s biography of George Seferis, mainly, along with which I reread Seferis’s poems in all the translations in my library–Englishings by Warner, Keeley/Sherrard, and Kaiser) and my own work. I also read two new collections by Ted Kooser, Splitting an Order and The Wheeling Year: A Poet’s Field Book. I plan to write about all these in more detail, but for now I want to pass along a gem from The Wheeling Year. Kooser’s piece resurrects the figure of a man who…Read More
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First Saturday at BookBar with David Rothman and Steven Wingate
Come on down and hear these two excellent poets! Don’t forget: the reading starts at 6 p.m. but starting an hour earlier, at 5 p.m., is a poetry happy hour with hors d’oeuvre and drink specials for reading attendees!
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Poetry Month 2015: Update on “A Marked Man”
Patricia Calhoun at Westword has written a fine article about Thursday’s performance of “A Marked Man.” The article will appear in Wednesday’s print edition of the publication. Patty has long had an interest in the many issues surrounding Sand Creek, and it’s heartening to have her take notice of this production. Tickets are still available here for the performance. Thanks, Patty!
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National Poetry Month 2015 Kickoff
Kicking off National Poetry Month at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 6th, with poets laureate David Mason, Janice Gould, Price Strobridge, Jim Ciletti, Aaron Anstett … AND MORE! At Library 21c in Colorado Springs.
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Another Kind of Heroism
As National Geographic points out, “By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth—many of them not yet recorded—may disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and the human brain.” No big deal, perhaps, since the human brain is on its way to being replaced by Google.
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
