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| Poet Anne Carson |
Father's Old Blue Cardigan
by Anne Carson
Now it hangs on the back of the kitchen chair
where I always sit, as it did
on the back of the kitchen chair where he always sat.
I put it on whenever I come in,
as he did, stamping
the snow from his boots.
I put it on and sit in the dark.
He would not have done this.
Coldness comes paring down from the moonbone in the sky.
His laws were a secret.
But I remember the moment at which I knew
he was going mad inside his laws.
He was standing at the turn of the driveway when I arrived.
He had on the blue cardigan with the buttons done up all the way to the top.
Not only because it was a hot July afternoon
but the look on his face --
as a small child who has been dressed by some aunt early in the morning
for a long trip
on cold trains and windy platforms
will sit very straight at the edge of his seat
while the shadows like long fingers
over the haystacks that sweep past
keep shocking him
because he is riding backwards.
Copyright © 2000 by Anne Carson
O Small Sad Ecstasy of Love
by Anne Carson
I like being with you all night with closed eyes.
What luck—here you are
coming
along the stars!
I did a road trip
all over my mind and heart
and
there you were
kneeling by the roadside
with your little toolkit
fixing something.
Give me a world, you have taken the world I was.
Copyright © 2020 by Anne Carson.
Originally published in Poem-a-Day
on December 10, 2020,
by the Academy of American Poets
Apostle Town
by Anne Carson
After your death.
It was windy every day.
Every day.
Opposed us like a wall.
We went.
Shouting sideways at one another.
Along the road.
It was useless.
The spaces between us.
Got hard.
They are empty spaces.
And yet they are solid.
And black and grievous.
As gaps between the teeth.
Of an old woman.
You knew years ago.
When she was.
Beautiful the nerves pouring around in her like palace fire.
Anne Carson Saturday
October 15, 2016
Anne Carson Bio
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq4g1j54nepyo
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/anne-carson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Carson
Anne Carson is a Canadian poet, essayist, and classicist known for blending ancient mythology with modern forms. Her most popular poems, verse novels, and lyric collections include:
Major Verse Novels and Long Poems
Autobiography of Red (1998): A celebrated novel in verse that retells the fragmentary myth of Geryon and Heracles by Stesichorus, reimagining the winged monster as a modern gay teenager.
The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos (2001): A narrative poem in 29 sections exploring the anatomy of a failed marriage, which won the T.S. Eliot Prize.
The Glass Essay (1995): A long, semi-autobiographical lyric poem from Plainwater that confronts grief, a broken relationship, and the haunting presence of Emily Brontë on a northern moor.
Standout Short Poems and Lyrical Works
"Father's Old Blue Cardigan": A poignant, sharply observed reflection on her father's memory and mental decline.
"O Small Sad Ecstasy of Love": A compact, striking lyric on the fragile and disorienting nature of falling in love.
"Apostle Town": Opening with the famous lines, "After your death. It was windy every day. Every day. Opposed us like a wall".
Glass, Irony, and God (1992): A collection containing seminal short talks and verse pieces that established her distinct voice.
Other poems. Listed on PoemHunter.com
