Poets On Place. Interviews and tales from the Road

313 Pages·2005·1.22 MB·English

by  W. T. Pfefferle

poets
on
place
interviews & tales from the road
by w.t. pfefferle
with a foreword by
david st. john
Poets on Place
Poets on Place Route Map
September 2003–May 2004
Poets on Place
Tales and Interviews from the Road
by
W. T. Pfefferle
with a foreword by
David St. John
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Logan, Utah
Copyright © 2005 Utah State University Press
All rights reserved
Utah State University Press
Logan, UT 84322-7800
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free, recycled paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Poets on place : tales and interviews from the road / [compiled] by
W.T. Pfefferle ; with a foreword by David St. John.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-87421-597-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. American poetry--20th century--History and criticism--Theory, etc.
2. American poetry--2lst century--History and criticism--Theory, etc. 3.
Poets, American--20th century--Interviews. 4. Poets, American--2lst
century--Interviews. 5. Pfefferle, W. T.--Travel--United States. 6.
United States--Description and travel. 7. Place (Philosophy) in
literature. 8. United States--In literature. 9. Regionalism in
literature. 10. Local color in literature. 11. Setting (Literature)
I. Pfefferle, W. T.
PS325.P634 2005
811’.540932--dc22
2004028467
For Tucker Satellite
who would have loved the trip
Acknowledgments
I want to offer my sincere thanks to the sixty-two poets who let me
into their places and poetry. Their kindness was remarkable, and I am
forever in their debt.
Thanks to Bonnie and G.O. for meals and fellowship during the fi nal
months of the book. I want to thank my mother, who taught me the
lifelong value of reading and who always stuck up for me when English
teachers gave me any lip.
I’d like to thank Jim Cummins of the Elliston Poetry Room at the
University of Cincinnati for his kindness and resources. And, at a time
when the project was winded and spent, David St. John’s encouragement
kept us on the road and searching.
Some of the interviews appeared in slightly different forms in Poets
& Writers. My thanks to the editors of that magazine and especially to
Kevin Larimer for his excellent guidance. A few of the interviews in this
book appear out of their actual sequence.
I’ve been lucky to have John Alley as an editor. His advice is always
measured, insightful, and reasonable, and I’ve known from his fi rst
contact that the book would be in good hands. Kyle Sessions has been
terrifi c in helping us all realize a unique and pleasant look for the book,
and Rebecca Marsh’s copyediting saved me from the punctuation junk
heap many times.
Finally, it’s impossible for me to express how integral my beautiful
wife Beth was in the planning and execution of this book. Her unwavering
support and endless help on all matters, large and small, made this
project as much hers as mine.
• James Harms’s “Landscape as the Latest Diet (Southern California)”
was published in Tar River Poetry (fall 2003). It is reprinted by
permission of the author.
• David Citino’s “Through a Glass, Darkly” is published here by
permission of the author.
• Richard Tillinghast’s “Wake Me in South Galway” was published
in Six Mile Mountain (Story Line Press 2000). It is reprinted by
permission of the publisher.
• Mark Strand’s “A Morning” was published in Selected Poems
(Random House 1990). It is reprinted by permission of the
author.
• Marvin Bell’s “Port Townsend, Washington, Waterside” is published
here by permission of the author.
• An excerpt from Michael Dennis Browne’s “At the Cabin,”
vi
Acknowledgments vii
published in Great River Review, is reprinted by permission of
the author.
• David Romtvedt’s “With Caitlin, Age 8, Building a Qhuinzee for a
Winter Night” is published here by permission of the author.
• Sandra Alcosser’s “Mare Frigoris” is published here by permission
of the author.
• Robert Wrigley’s “Ordinary Magic” is published here by permission
of the author.
• Nance Van Winckel’s “Awaiting the Return Ferry” is published here
by permission of the author.
• Mark Halperin’s “Accident” is published here by permission of the
author.
• Jana Harris’s “Mr. Elija Welch, First Planting” was published in
The Dust of Everyday Life (Sasquatch Books 1997). It is reprinted
by permission of the publisher and the author.
• An excerpt from Barbara Drake’s “The Man from the Past Visits the
Present” is published here by permission of the author.
• Floyd Skloot’s “A Warming Trend” is published here by permission
of the author.
• Carol Muske-Dukes’s “Twin Cities” was published in Hunger
Mountain (fall 2003) and is reprinted by permission of the
author.
• David St. John’s “Dijon” is published here by permission of the
author.
• Donald Revell’s “A Parish in the Bronx” was published in New
Dark Ages (Wesleyan University Press 1990) and is reprinted by
permission of the publisher and the author.
• Richard Shelton’s “Local Knowledge” was published in Selected
Poems 1969–1981 (University of Pittsburgh Press 1982) and is
reprinted by permission of the publisher.
• Jane Miller’s “#15” comes from A Palace of Pearls (Copper Canyon
2004) and is reprinted by permission of the author.
• William Wenthe’s “Alien” is published here by permission of the
author.
• Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Pause” was published in Fuel (BOA Editions
1998) and is reprinted by permission of the author.
• An excerpt from Beth Ann Fennelly’s “The Kudzu Chronicles” is
published here by permission of the author.
• Natasha Trethewey’s “South” was published in Shenandoah(spring
2004). It is reprinted here by permission of the author.
• Denise Duhamel’s “Valentines, Hollywood Beach” is published
here by permission of the author.
• Terrance Hayes’s “Threshold” was published in Swink (2004). It is
reprinted by permission of the author.
viii Poets on Place
• Alan Shapiro’s “Bower” is published here by permission of the
author.
• Charles Wright’s “High Country Spring” is published here by
permission of the author.
• Rita Dove’s “The House on Bishop Street” was published in
Thomas and Beulah (Carnegie Mellon Press 1986) and is reprinted
by permission of the author.
• Henry Taylor’s “Harvest” was published in The Horse Show at
Midnight and An Afternoon of Pocket Billiards (University of Utah
Press 1975, 1992) and is reprinted by permission of the author.
• Dave Smith’s “Gaines Mill Battlefi eld” is published here by
permission of the author.
• Nicole Cooley’s “Unfi nished Sketch: Green Sandbox Winter Sky” is
published here by permission of the author.
• David Lehman’s “April 9” was published in the The Daily Mirror
(Scribner 2000) and is reprinted by permission of the publisher.
• The excerpt from C. D. Wright’s “The Ozark Odes” was fi rst
published in String Light (University of Georgia Press 1991) and
subsequently in Steal Away, Selected and New Poems (Copper
Canyon Press 2002, 2003). It is reprinted by permission of the
publisher.
• James Cummins’s “Spring Comes to Hamilton Avenue” is published
here by permission of the author.
• Frederick Smock’s “Heron” is published here by permission of the
author.
• Mark Jarman’s “Nashville Moon” was published in Unholy Sonnets
(Storyline Press 2000) and is reprinted by permission of the
publisher.
• Scott Cairns’s “Mud Trail” was published in Philokalia (Zoo Press
2002) and is reprinted by permission of the publisher.
• Elizabeth Dodd’s “Sonnet, Almost” is published here by permission
of the author.
• Paisley Rekdal’s “Ode” was published in Colorado Review (summer
2004) and is reprinted by permission of the author.
Contents
Foreword xiii
Introduction xv
Wherein We Begin Life on the Road 1
James Harms — Morgantown, West Virginia 2
Landscape as the Latest Diet (Southern California) 4
David Citino — Columbus, Ohio 6
Through a Glass, Darkly 9
Martha Collins — Oberlin, Ohio 10
Linda Gregerson — Ann Arbor, Michigan 13
Richard Tillinghast — Ann Arbor, Michigan 16
Wake Me in South Galway 19
Winnie Cooper 21
Orlando Ricardo Menes — South Bend, Indiana 22
Mark Strand — Chicago, Illinois 25
A Morning 29
Karen Volkman — Chicago, Illinois 30
Lisa Samuels — Milwaukee, Wisconsin 34
Marvin Bell — Iowa City, Iowa 37
Port Townsend, Washington, Waterside 40
Dust, Corn, and Popcorn People 41
Michael Dennis Browne — Minneapolis, Minnesota 44
from At the Cabin 47
David Allan Evans — Brookings, South Dakota 50
David Romtvedt — Buffalo, Wyoming 53
With Caitlin, Age 8, Building a Qhuinzee for a Winter Night 56
The West 58
Sandra Alcosser — Lolo, Montana 60
Mare Frigoris 64
Robert Wrigley — Moscow, Idaho 66
Ordinary Magic 69
ix