A pair of new poems I wrote are now up in this fine issue of Roanoke Review. Each is followed by a brief comment by the author (who looks familiar), so I need not go on and on (as is my custom) here. These poems will appear in my forthcoming book, so consider it an advanced look-see!
“When Babcia Caught Her Breath” and “Some Hard Talk About Death”
Nota bene: Someone asked me how a guy named Craft has a Polish grandmother. The answer? Mother’s mother’s side and, it turns out, the only grandparent I ever knew, the other three having left before I had a chance to begin deposits in this thing called the memory bank. Question answered.
Enjoy!
No Comments “Two New Poems in Roanoke Review”
A couple of corkers her Ken. It’s easy to see why you had to write a poem after Babcia’s final line, that is an unforgettable moment, well rendered, packed with the sort of flow of images i have come to expect from your poems. You have a skill with nouns which i admire.
Thank you, Daniel! I try to be a noun and verb guy, but adjectives and adverbs DO have their Siren calls (and, at times, can be gold themselves).
They do of course, but there is more skill & learning involved in a use of proper names for things, as you do with flowers. Verbs for me are a matter of great importance, a clever use of verb can really administer feeling to a poem. The more i think of adjectives the more abstract & uncommon they need to be, which makes them difficult to handle.