"Good heavens," Alicia Ostriker exclaimed about one
of my favorite poetry collections by Peggy Shumaker,
Gnawed Bones.
What a book.
I marveled similarly upon reading
Peggy's latest book of poetry, her New and Selected, Cairn.
On occasion, Peggy writes a poetry so intense, so empathic,
so pared down to essence, the poem
reaches that state which Dickinson characterized as zero
at the bone, that long lyric O registering not simply lament,
but also hard won awe arising out
of being a survivor of many setbacks, several tragedies,
but refusing to be defined by loss.
Rather, through will, reorientation, and grace,
Peggy brings a precise attention to both the music and meaning
of the lyric, a precision she shares with Dickinson.
By turn, ecopoetic, elegiac, ekphrastic, praiseful,
in the splendid Cairn, Peggy invites
us to dwell in a poetry infused by a beauty of word and spirit,
a largesse of mind and heart.
Cairn offers a profound exploration
of what it is to approach the world from a place of a fully
present attentiveness or, as Peggy puts it in her homage
to LA's inaugural poet laureate Eloise Klein Healy
and her spouse Colleen Rooney, to place our feet with care
on this Earth.
Peggy has served as the Stadler Center
for Poetry's Distinguished Poet in Residence
at Bucknell University, the Rasmuson Foundation's
distinguished artist, and for three years as Alaska's poet
laureate.
She is founding editor of the Boreal Book series,
an imprint of Red Hen Press, editor of the Alaska Literary
Series at University of Alaska, and a past NEA
fellow in poetry.
Please join me in welcoming Peggy Shumaker.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, Cynthia.
Will you travel with me and introduce me always?
[LAUGHTER]
There are in this world people who teach us
that it's possible to live a creative life,
and tonight one of those people for me is in this room.
When I was six years old and completely confused about life,
Dottie Davis was my dance teacher.
And she's here.
Thank you, Dottie.
[APPLAUSE]
And when I was 18 years old, my freshman composition teacher
told me and Mark Doty and our whole class
to come to the Poetry Center, and that
was the first time I set foot in the Poetry Center.
And so I was very lucky to have that teacher.
I also want to acknowledge booksellers
wherever they may be.
Thank you, booksellers.
[APPLAUSE]