Hello! Welcome to the winter-vacation syndication segment of the newsletter! The Friday Dispatch and other regular Hattie content is on a break until January 12th. Until then, you’ll be getting some top-ten lists from me.
Last week, I shared some poetry prompts with you. Today, it’s just poems, straight up! You might’ve read some of these in previous newsletters. But maybe you didn’t. I hope you enjoy, whether they’re new to you or not.
10 Poems I’m Glad I Read in 2023
The Typewriter’s the Kind, Heather McHugh – A poem I read and re-read last year, and re-read and re-read and re-read this year. I talked about it in my newsletter last January; here’s the link.
“I lay my arms / upon the typewriter, my head / upon my arms, and breathe and / breathe and breathe…”
Wait, Galway Kinnell – I think of this often. I post about it often. “Hair will become interesting” runs through my head; so does “Be there to hear it, it will be the only time.” Read it here at Poets dot org.
“Wait. / Don’t go too early. / You’re tired. But everyone’s tired. / But no one is tired enough.”Out There on a Balcony, She Never Knows What She’s Going to Get, Lois Hirshkowitz – Another pick that appeared in the newsletter this year! From the Russell Stover to the breezy summation of “a lot of physics,” this poem’s got it all. Read the full thing here.
“Far away now the silver-coated almond / The sliver let out of a silk-padded box / Swimming in the sky wings back breast protruding.”my father explains why they left me behind when defecting, Alina Stefanescu – I’ve said here before that Alina is brilliant, but won’t pass up a chance to reiterate that. The turn in this is staggering; read it right now.
“And no leaves on the lindens then / we didn't know if we'd see you again.”Buried at Springs, James Schuyler – An elegy for Frank O’Hara, haunting and harrowing from the hornet in the first line. Big thanks to Robyn Schiff for introducing me to this poem, via my friend Troy, who introduced me to Robyn’s work. Read the poem here.
“It is not like this at all.”Any Lit, Harryette Mullen – I was introduced to this list poem (really, a litany poem!) through a workshop I took through Poet’s House. The formal convention is so fun to parse and I love all the linguistic combinations. Here’s the poem, read it!
“You are a Euripides beyond my mime troupe.”The Hurting Kind, Ada Limón – Another workshop poem. I participated in a very fun study group through Soapstone, an organization that spotlights the work of women writers. In this class, we read two books by poet laureate Ada Limón, The Carrying and The Hurting Kind. The title poem of that latter work is worth a read, and I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to pick up the book after seeing the eponymous, six-section verse. Luckily, the whole poem is available here.
“My grandfather, before he died, would have told / anyone that would listen, that he was ordinary, / that his life was a good one, simple, he could never / understand why anyone would want to write / it down.”
She Had Some Horses, Joy Harjo – Yes, our previous poet laureate was ALSO a horse girl. We live in a blessed time! I’d read this poem a few times over the years, but something clicked this year and I revisited it again and again. It was always a pleasure. Read it here.
“She had horses who got down on their knees for any savior. / She had horses who thought their high price had saved them.”Olives, A. E. Stallings – I had the pleasure of meeting A. E. Stallings at a reading of Dante’s Inferno earlier this year, and got to tell her that I keep this poem stapled above my desk. It’s a fun, anagrammatic romp, and also very touching. I wrote about it; read more here!
“Is love / so evil? / Is Eve?”New Life, Ana Božičević – Happy new year. That’s all. Read the full poem (with my commentary) here.
“Outside the merciless glare / Of my story”