Thursday, June 01, 2006

The poetry of Barbara Crooker


[... Barbara Crooker's Radiance - which won the Word Press First Book Prize - is worth a mention. In these pages the Pennsylvania poet writes both of artists - Rodin, Van Gogh, CĂ©zanne - and the art of living. For Crooker, attention to detail is crucial. She looks at the world with loving attention - noticing the way light falls, the subtle shifts in mood - and even in disappointment she finds some small blessing.]

In "Some October" she writes:

Some October, when the leaves turn gold, ask
me if I've done enough to deserve this life
I've been given. A pile of sorrows, yes, but joy
enough to unbalance the equation.

When the sky turns blue as the robes of heaven,
ask me if I've made a difference.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the poet. I'll get her book.

Anonymous said...

Some October will be in my classroom this fall. A lovely statement of life and its texture.