Dave Parsons, W. D. Snodgrass, Kenne Turner, 1999
One of my favorite Writers in Performance (WIP) appearances was that of the 1999 W. D. Snodgrass, Pulitzer Prize winner and a major influence on American poetry in the 20th century. In February of last year, after Snodgrass’s death, I wrote on the Writers in Performance blog:
Conversations
from the past
lost
in the images
of memories
amassed
only to return
on the backs
of death
resurrected
by poets
serving only
to introduce
images
of what was
like water
returning
from a fountain’s
reservoir
only
to be reborn
again
and again
and again
This blog series, “Capturing the Word” is like the fountain’s reservoir, providing an opportunity to revisit again the WIP presenters.
Today being the 1st of September, nearing the autumn of the year, I share the following from the poem “Autumn Variation,” in Each In His Season.
iii
In spray-paint, psychedelic, gaudy,
Fall scrawls its name – a blunt and bawdy
Challenge to the complacent wood.
We say: there goes the neighborhood;
It is not and it cannot come to good.
Soon, flustered leaves will sag like torn
Wallpaper; solid dark walls, worn
Through here and there, exposed a bitter
Sky while, on the bare ground, litter
And stub ends pile up everywhere.
Not even one green plant would dare
Poke its nose out in the crude air
Of catch-as-catch-can thievery, lust,
Cut-throat protection and sick trust.
Where year by year we walked together
Determined paths, a wilder atmosphere
Wheels in, flaunting its chains, blades and black leather.
kenne
Reblogged this on Becoming is Superior to Being and commented:
One of the early “Writers in Performance” series featured W. D. Snodgrass. It was a real joy listen to him read his poems and later share a few beers.