Some James Wright

A Blessing

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.

I like that almost as much as Pete Townsend's version.

Elaine Equi. Her husband Jerome Sala. Yusef Komunyakaa. Larissa Szporluk. James Tate. Gerald Stern. Alice Notley, but she may be too abrasive for you--she's my hero. John Ashbery. Matthea Harvey. Noelle Kocot. Ronald Koertge. Wislawa Szymborska. Jeffrey McDaniel. Kim Addonizio. Ai. Lucille Clifton. Audre Lord. Richard Brautigan (I know, not contemporary but hey). M Loncar. Jonathan Aaron. Dennis Nurkse. Paul Celan (not contemporary either, but effing amazing). Frank O'Hara (more of the same). Sarah Manguso. Sharon Olds. da levy. Robert Creeley. Jane Mead. John Rybicki. Charles Simic. Ned O'Gorman.

Linton Kwesi Johnson

did someone mention matt cook?

Matt Cook

I'm not going to say who the poet is, but someone just listed a poet I slept with once several years ago.

Peter Manson > http://www.petermanson.com/

Never slept with the guy so I can only speak for his poetry, which is good incidentally.

Wood Goblin wrote:I'm not going to say who the poet is, but someone just listed a poet I slept with once several years ago.

Robert Penn Warren is dead and died a very old man...

how was he?

Billy Corgan, obviously.

ghosting wrote:...Alice Notley, but she may be too abrasive for you-... Frank O'Hara ...

+1. I just read Notley's In the Pines and City Poet, the O'Hara bio. Made my July.