Poet of the Month

October's Featured Poet
Kay Ryan (1945-) calls herself a “modern hermit.” Until her appointment as the U.S. Poet Laureate for 2008-2009, she had led a quiet life as a Californian teaching remedial English (relatively undemanding) and writing poetry, the most central, most demanding part of her life. She writes in what one might call a stealth-metaphysical vein that has caused her work to be compared that of Emily Dickinson. It often has an understated surreal quality, like the title poem of one of her books, The Niagara River, below.

The Niagara River
As though
the river were
a floor, we position
our table and chairs
upon it, eat, and
have conversation.
As it moves along,
we notice—as
calmly as though
dining room paintings
were being replaced—
the changing scenes
along the shore. We
do know, we do
know this is the
Niagara River, but
it is hard to remember
what that means.

Further Reading: Elephant Rocks / Kay Ryan, 1996; The Niagara River / Kay Ryan, 2005.

Coming in November: Marilyn Hacker

Content developed by local resident and poet Leland Jamieson

Note from your library: Niagara River is located in Western NY