Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

Charles Simic is the poet I've gone to the most since starting this feature on my blog. Given the events of the last twenty four hours, I can't think of a better pick for today than "My Weariness of Epic Proportions," a poem I first read during my senior year at Framingham State College. Thanks to the Poetry 101 site for showcasing the poem.

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

Tara Skurtu featured "Empires" on Twitter recently and wanted to feature it here. I looked for it online and found it on the Poems on the Underground web site.

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

My brain is fried. Something simple this morning. Here's my favorite Charles Simic poem, simply titled "Poem," courtesy of the Poetry Society of America.

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

Without getting into detail, I spent most of the last five days in and out of the hospital. "On the Pleasures of Reading" by Charles Simic is the only hospital related poem I can think of right now. Thanks to the Los Angeles Times for reprinting this poem.

Charles Simic (1938–2023)

Charles Simic has passed away. The trinity of my biggest influences as a young poet including Tony Hoagland and Philip Levine are now all gone. 

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

In recent years, whenever I create a poem with various "scenes," I hope it can live up to Charles Simic's poem, "Classic Ballroom Dances." Thanks to The Writer's Almanac, you can read it here.

Stone Soup Croutons, 1-26-16, Open Mic Songs of Self

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked up from poems overheard from Stone Soup's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title either then or later. It's likely some of the poets I thank at the end won't even be able to figure out which lines were inspired by their work. This week, I had the title way before I had the poem figured out. Nothing else was easy.

Last night, we had Gladys Hidalgo feature, who was introduced by her friend, prior Stone Soup feature Dexter Garcia. The open mic actually had the highest number of guitar players I think I've ever seen in my last decade of hosting. That and open micer Chris Fitzgerald reading Walt Whitman helped me to turn out today's poem.

I was trying to not write a downer, but when I get writer's block, that's what I tend to do. To anyone there last night, don't worry. It's not you, it's me and my distorted lens. Especially when I'm tired. I also had the Charles Simic poem "County Fair" on my mind. That's also a sad sounding song by Bruce Springsteen.


Edit: This poem, "Stamp," has been published in Issue #3 of Tell Tale Inklings. Please consider purchasing it here. 

Dexter wasn't first, as she introduced Gladys, but she deserved the number one spot.

Special Thanks to Chris Cardone, Mahyrah Shamseddine, Gawaine Ross, David Miller, Bob Tracy, Martha Boss, Susan DeLeo, Angelica Maria, Jason Wright, Chris Fitzgerald, Navah The Buddaphliii, Dexter Garcia and Gladys Teresa Hidalgo.