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For Arlen, Always
My eulogy for a dear friend.


Day 30: Seven Letters to My Tears by Rachel Stuck
I find everything I need in the pretty ways humans say things.


Day 29: No Possum, No Sop, No Taters by Wallace Stevens
A Probably Wrong and Definitely Too Brief Analysis


Day 28: Excavation at the Santa Barbara Mission by Wendy Rose
It encompasses the intensely private sense of identity as well as the immensity of cultural assimilation and genocide.


Day 27: Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath
Like Plath, I’ve made some terrible relationship decisions (though none so bad as marrying Ted Hughes).


Day 26: Marginalia by Billy Collins
Part of what’s appealing to me about this poem is probably plain old narcissism.
Day 25: The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
He, aware of my circumstances, smiled in that way, in that specific way that says “This is a smile that meets your sadness.”
Day 24: Les Trois Oiseaux by Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo
I can’t believe how well this poem addresses the themes in our novel.
Day 23: First Song by Galway Kinnell
There I was, hurdling through Austin suburbs, dropping my book like a freak.
Day 22: The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell
It is a brutal and necessary read.
Day 21: The Colonel by Carolyn Forché
This is not a happy poem, and I’m truly sorry for what you are about to go through.
Day 20: I, Too by Langston Hughes
It is amazing to me when a work of art is able to bridge the perceived apathy of high school students.
Day 19: The Flurry by Sharon Olds
Did her renown as a writer stop me from, after a few beers, emailing her and telling her that I might pee my pants if she actually responded?
Day 18: The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter by Ezra Pound
Another love poem, what? Don’t worry, it’s also about isolation and how your childhood rots away and stuff.
Day 17: Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda
Ugh, gross, a love poem.
Day 16: Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota by James Wright
This one gobsmacked me.
Day 15: We Lived Happily During the War by Ilya Kaminsky
When I asked this man what he missed most while living on the street, his answer surprised me.


Day 14: Kissing a Horse by Robert Wrigley
How lucky was I to spend so many days of my childhood with horses?
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