On Tuesday, February 4,
2014, at 7 pm at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
(W. 7th Avenue
entrance), poets Camille Dungy and Sean Hill will discuss “Writing the Whole Environment”: what it means to
write about family, history, community, and the natural world. A
question-and-answer session and book signing will follow. Admission is free.
poem from each, followed by links to sites where you can learn more about the poets and
their work.
 |
| Camille T. Dungy (WideVision Photography, Marcia Wilson) |
Sing the mass—
light upon me washing words
now that I am gone.
The
sky was a hot, blue sheet the summer breeze fanned
out
and over the town. I could have lived forever
under
that sky. Forgetting where I was,
I
looked left, not right, crossed into a street
and
stepped in front of the bus that ended me.
Will
you believe me when I tell you it was beautiful—
my
left leg turned to uselessness and my right shoe flung
some
distance down the road? Will you believe me
when I
tell you I had never been so in love
with
anyone as I was, then, with everyone I saw?
The
way an age-worn man held his wife’s shaking arm,
supporting
the weight that seemed to sing from the heart
she
clutched. Knowing her eyes embraced the pile
that
was me, he guided her sacked body through the crowd.
And
the way one woman began a fast the moment she looked
under
the wheel. I saw her swear off decadence.
I saw
her start to pray. You see, I was so beautiful
the
woman sent to clean the street used words
like
police tape to keep back a young boy
seconds
before he rounded the grisly bumper.
The
woman who cordoned the area feared my memory
would
fly him through the world on pinions of passion
much
as, later, the sight of my awful beauty pulled her down
to
tears when she pooled my blood with water
and
swiftly, swiftly washed my stains away.
Blue, Suck on the Marrow, and What to Eat, What to Drink, What
to Leave for Poison. She edited Black Nature: Four Centuries of
African American Nature Poetry, and co-edited the From the Fishouse poetry
anthology. Her honors include an American Book Award, two Northern California
Book Awards, a California Book Award silver medal, and a fellowship from the
NEA. Dungy is currently a Professor in the English department at Colorado State
University. While in Anchorage, Camille Dungy will also
teach a 49 Writers creative writing class on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 6:00-9:00 pm,
How to Write a Poem: Make a List. Click here for
more details.
 |
| Sean Hill |
WRONG ADDRESS
appropriate—
fit like the not it
our childhood games.
confessional or, maybe,
suggestion box;
if I’m penitent
could tell you about
paradise I hiked
flora and fauna—
the Sidle Parade,
spectacle I saw yesterday,
not. I could tell
really feel about my
shoe size, and they’d
same weight like
the Heart—the soul
balance the feather to gain
heaven. Tomorrow
to the Dead Man’s
They’re also
throttles—installed
case an engineer keels
pressure, the brakes engage.
Poems, Gathering Ground, The
Ringing Ear, and Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American
Nature Poetry.
His first book, Blood
Ties & Brown Liquor,
was published by the University of Georgia Press in 2008. In
2009 Hill became an editor at Broadsided Press.
His second collection of poetry, Dangerous Goods, is forthcoming from Milkweed
Editions in early 2014. He makes his home in Bemidji, Minnesota, but he
has moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, to join the creative writing faculty at UAF as a visiting professor.