THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY
April 12, 2016

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Poetry Friday: Claudia Emerson

I'm back from my visit to the revision cave , but I can't celebrate my return to Poetry Friday today. I am so saddened by the news of Claudia Emerson's death yesterday. Her Pulitzer Prize winning collection, The Late Wife, is a must-read.




Today, I am sharing Emerson's interview with one of my mentors, poet Grace Cavalieri. Grace and Emerson spoke for Grace's long-running radio series (now podcast) "The Poet and The Poem."


Grace Cavalieri at the mic


Bone


Claudia Emerson1957 - 2014
It was first dark when the plow turned it up. 
Unsown, it came fleshless, mud-ruddled, nothing 
but itself, the tendon’s bored eye threading
a ponderous needle. And yet the pocked fist 
of one end dared what was undone 
in the strewing, defied the mouth of the hound 
that dropped it.
            The whippoorwill began 
again its dusk-borne mourning.
Read the rest at the Academy of American Poets.
Anastasia Suen is this week's
Poetry Friday host.
You will find all
of the links at Booktalking.

9 comments:

Linda B said...

Hi Laura. I hope the revision 'stuff' is going beautifully. Thanks for sharing the poem, and about Claudia Emerson, new to me. Sad that she brought such beauty and left too early.

jama said...

Thanks for sharing about Claudia Emerson, Laura. I'm anxious to read her work. Hope your revisions are going well.

catherinemjohnson.com said...

Thanks for sharing great poem. So sorry she died yesterday.

Anastasia Suen said...

Thanks for sharing this, Laura. She will be missed.

Tara said...

Emerson is new to me, Laura - but the poem you shared makes me want to read more.

Mary Lee said...

She's new to me, but thanks to you, her words will live on in my mind. I think we lost her way too soon...

Margaret Simon said...

I have this book, but didn't realize she died. Wasn't it put out by LSU press? I'm going to my poetry shelf to pull it out again. Thanks.

Jeannine Atkins said...

I am sad to hear this news. Thank you for letting us know, and celebrating her work. I believe some Poetry Friday person introduced her to me. Was it you? Like Margaret, I plan to go back to her work. Best wishes for your revision, and reading.

Heidi Mordhorst said...

I read somewhere quite a while ago a snide little spot-on poke at the use of "bones" in contemporary American poetry--to the effect that if it includes a bone reference it must be good. I didn't know Claudia's work, but this one poem takes the teeth out of that critique--so earthed and mysterious and emotional.

Thanks, Laura.