Poetry Focus: Poem by Rae Armantrout

Eyewear is very glad to feature the major American poet Rae Armantrout (pictured) this Saturday in London, and not just because she too wears eyewear.

Professor Armantrout, who is associated with the West Coast Language Poets, studied when younger with Denise Levertov.  She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for her collection Versed, and her book Next Life was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2007.  She has taught for may years at the University of California, at San Diego

BELIEVING

    1

When did you first learn

that the bursts

of color and sound

were intended for you?

When did you unlearn this?

     2

Believing yourself

to have a secret identity

can be a sign

of madness.

On the other hand,

the lack

of a secret identity

can lead to depression.

Many have found it useful

to lie down

as men

believing themselves

to be little girls

or as girls

believing themselves

to be mermaids

stranded

in their own bodies.

poem by Rae Armantrout; reprinted online with permission of the author.