DPF / Laughlin

For dreams and more dreams, from Poems New and Selected, by James Laughlin.

from In the God’s Dreams / by James Laughlin (1914–1997)

What is the message of these
dreams? Into what kind of world
is Hermes leading me? It’s not
the world described daily in the
New York Times.

DPF / Padgett

For the way grief leaps out unexpectedly, from Collected Poems, by Ron Padgett.

from Prose Poem (“The morning coffee.”) / by Ron Padgett

Papa Bear looks disgruntled. He removes his spectacles and swivels his eyes onto the cup that sits before Baby Bear, and then, after a discrete cough, reaches over and picks it up. Baby Bear doesn’t understand this disruption of the morning routine.

DPF / Nye

For worry over the little ones, be they boys, girls, or baby goats, from poetryfoundation.org.

from 300 Goats / by Naomi Shihab Nye

Another frigid night swooping down —
Aren’t you worried about them? I ask my friend,
who lives by herself on the ranch of goats,
far from here near the town of Ozona.

DPF / Kleinzahler

For talking dogs, from poemhunter.com.

from The Dog Stolz / by August Kleinzahler

looked in my eye and smiled, best as a dog can,
then turned ruminative and spoke once more:
–“I simply have to knock off that essay on Sassoon.”
This would have been Sassoon the war poet, understand.
Dogs cannot write. My mother told me this.

DPF / Rankine

For the man and the day, from Citizen, by Claudia Rankine. A book for anyone who’s ever felt unseen or mis-seen. This poem can also be found here:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/247344#poem

from Citizen: “You are in the dark, in the car….” / by Claudia Rankine, b. 1963

You think maybe this is an experiment and you are being tested or retroactively insulted or you have done something that communicates this is an okay conversation to be having.

DPF / Moss

For an apt metaphor for drilling to the core of any of us, from The American Poetry Review, January / February 2016, in an article about Moss by Laurence Lieberman. If I have gathered the title incorrectly, please message me for the correction. Obviously, I should buy the book.

from Poem of Self / by Stanley Moss

Putting his back into the drill, as if the tree were marble,
he quickly passed through American history,
knot and counter-knot, to the age of Mozart,
through the Baroque, through Shakespeare grain

DPF / Herrick

For a day of birthdays, from poetryfoundation.org.

from How to Spend a Birthday / by Lee Herrick

over a brown hill, just underneath

a perfect birthday moon.

DPF / Mark

For a favorite poem, a favorite poet, and extraordinariness. From the extraordinary book, Tsim Tsum, by extraordinary Sabrina Orah Mark.

from Walter B.’s Extraordinary Cousin Arrives for a Visit / by Sabrina Orah Mark

When Walter B.’s extraordinary cousin arrived for a visit, Beatrice and Walter B. were in the bath reciting scenes from their favorite sentences.

DPF / Valentine

A rose and a valentine for Snape, one who we dearly love(d). From poetryfoundation.org.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180958

from A Rose / by Jean Valentine

Never mind you, Jim,
come rest again on the country porch of my knees.

DPF / Wright

For C.D. Wright and Forrest Gander. Very sad to hear of C.D. Wright’s passing on January 12, yesterday, 2016.  Announcement and poem from Copper Canyon Press and Poetryfoundation.org:
https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177347#poem

from Floating Trees / by C.D. Wright (1949-2016)

a face is studied like a key
for the mystery of what it once opened