Staff Picks: Poems

Nancy W. likes“Some keep the Sabbath going to Church” by Emily Dickinson for the lines,

“God preaches, a noted Clergyman – /And the sermon is never long.” The poem itself can be found here.

Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poems appealed to a number of the staff.  Joan chose “First Fig” as a favorite, while Laurie went for “Second Fig” because “there’s nothing like being short and sweet.” Neither has anything to do with figs, by the way, but the first deals with a candle burning at both ends and the second offers interesting construction advice to two lines.

Jeanne liked both of the above and added “Receurdo,” which begins, “We were very tired, we were very merry/We rode back and forth all night on the ferry.” All of these poems can be read here.

 Nicki says,   “My favorite poem is a little strange.  I didn’t think I liked poetry when I was a teen, because the ones we read in school were dry and boring. Then I read Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer.  It had this poem in it that is an old prison rhyme that starts, “Deep in my dungeon/I welcome you here/Deep in my dungeon/I worship your fear.” It was like nothing I’d ever read, and I thought, “Wow!  That’s really dark. Maybe I do like poetry.”

Jud said that “Nonno’s Poem” from the Tennessee Williams play Night of the Iguana “is one that has been meaningful to various members of my family, including my parents.”

Christy H. chose Walt Whitman’s “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” Here’s her favorite passage:

Come my tan-faced children,

Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!

For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

O you youths, Western youths,
So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,
Pioneers! O pioneers!



The poem can be read in its entirety here.


Remember we're having three poets here on Sunday, April 28, at 2 pm! For more information, click here.