US Poets Laureate and the Presidents They Served Under

US Poets Laureate and the Presidents They Served Under, by My Poetic Side

March 2: Robert Lowell at 100: why his poetry has never been more relevant

Lowell’s confessional work of the 1960s marked a sea change in American letters – then he fell out of favour. But on the eve of his centenary, his work offers an urgent political message in a time of Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/mar/01/robert-lowell-at-100-poetry-centenary

March 1: Reading Myself by Robert Lowell

Like thousands, I took just pride
     and more than just,
struck matches that brought my
     blood to a boil;
I memorized the tricks to set the
    river on fire—
somehow never wrote something
     to go back to.
Can I suppose I am finished with
     wax flowers
and have earned my grass on the
     minor slopes of Parnassus....
No honeycomb is built
     without a bee
adding circle to circle, cell to cell,
the wax and honey of a
     mausoleum—
this round dome proves its maker
     is alive;
the corpse of the insect lives
     embalmed in honey,
prays that its perishable work
     live long
enough for the sweet-tooth bear
     to desecrate—
this open book...my open coffin.

From <i>New Selected Poems of Lowell</i>, edited by Katie Peterson.