E. B. White, of Charlotte’s Web fame, was also an essayist and poet. I featured one of his poems here. I came across today’s poem quite a while ago in a poetry book I checked out from the library. I took a photo of the page and then forgot about it. I found it again when I was scrolling through my photos and liked it all over again. It fits in well with the post I wrote recently about going home. Home is the place where the queer things are: Hope and compassion and objets d'art. Home is the centre of mind and of liver, Under the hill and beside…

Ellen Bass is an American poet who grew up in New Jersey and received an MA in creative writing from Boston University where she studied with Anne Sexton. She is the chancellor of the American Academy of Poets and teaches at Pacific University. She says of her writing, “I work to speak in a voice that is meaningful communication. Poetry is the most intimate of all writing. I want to speak from me to myself and then from me to you.” The Thing Is Ellen Bass to love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you've held dear crumbles like burnt paper in…

Lately, I have been revisiting some of my favorite poets that I have discovered over the last few years. When I find a poet I like the temptation is to share poem after poem after poem. However, that would defeat the purpose of these blog posts so I ration myself to only sharing poems from my favorites every now and then. While I have liked Billy Collins’ poetry for a while now I had never read this poem until about five minutes ago. So, while this week is another familiar poet it is a poem that is new to me. I hope you enjoy it. Each one is a gift,…