December 2020: Poetry Night

I am pleased to announce that our 2020 annual poetry night was a great success! We had fourteen attendees, including Amalia Merino, who tuned in from Quito, Ecuador!   The poems that were shared were the following.  (I hope I haven’t missed anything!)

1. Mushrooms, by Sylvia Plath (https://allpoetry.com/poem/8498359-Mushrooms-by-Sylvia-Plath) 

2. Banality, by Gregory Djanikian (https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/twa-the-writers-almanac-for-december-2-2020) 

3. The Best of It, by Kay Ryan (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=42130) 

4. The Secret Heart, by Robert P. Tristram Coffin (https://allpoetry.com/The-Secret-Heart) 

5. Some Girls, by Alison Luterman (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/magazine/poem-some-girls.html?smid=em-share) 

6. Books, by Billy Collins (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=37090) 

7. In Praise of Christmas (also called Drive the Cold Winter Away), Traditional English (eighteenth century) (https://biostat.wustl.edu/~erich/music/songs/drive_the_cold_winter_away.html) 

8. From Dinner in the Garden by Steve Ablon- Patty’s Doll, Staten Island Ferry, The Next Generation, Christmas

9. Meditation on a Grapefruit, by Craig Arnold (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/52980/meditation-on-a-grapefruit) 

10. (Citizen)(Illegal) by Jose Olivarez (https://poetshouse.org/profile/jos-olivarez) 

11. Apparently It Is Ungraceful of Me, by Rupi Kaur (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7682565-apparently-it-is-ungraceful-of-me-to-mention-my-period) 

12. I Want to Apologize to All the Women…, by Rupi Kaur (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1137550-i-want-to-apologize-to-all-the-women-i-have)

13. Canoe, by Allison Luterman (https://condofire.com/2019/12/11/poem-of-the-week-canoe-by-alison-luterman-via-poetry-mistress-alison-mcghee)

I also shared a short poem written by my mother. It described her room at Homerton, which is a part of Cambridge University in England. When she attended, Homerton was a women’s college, and hearing about her experiences there is part of what prompted me to apply to Smith. Since it is not available on-line, I’ve copied the poem below.

My Room by Jacqueline Bardsley

I had a room
In Cambridge.
A monkish cell,
With just a bed,
A bookcase, and a chair,
A faded rug,
A cracked linoleum floor,
A scratched and chipped bureau
Where I would write
And stare
Out of the window by the bed
At the burnished copper beech
Across the lawn
And martins
Wheeling wildly in the air
Creating complicated cadences –
An airy tapestry
Of sound and movement
Curtaining the panes.