Contemporary poets worth appreciating

Franz Wright - one of the reasons I started writing. 'Walking to Martha's Vineyard' and 'God's Silence' are two of my most treasured books.

SHAVING IN THE DARK

How old is the sun today

Where are the shoes of yesteryear

What an evil potato goes through
we can never know, but
I'm beginning to resemble one

Ah, a little light now

It is the hour
the moment
when it becomes possible
to distinguish a white
thread from a black,
so prayer begins

I see a shadowy reflection now our fingers touch

There's nothing like what is

fragile and momentary
as the pale yellow light along the windowsill
in winter north
of nowhere yet
if it were not for winter nothing
would get done

would finally get done

I've been all around this world

and not to die in hell
not to die in the flames of hell homeless with a cell phone please

There's nothing like today

And contributing one's atoms to the green universe
how strange is that

And some have managed to live in constant awareness
that all things, every evil thing
will be forgotten, dispensing
to mourn for every radiant thing, and so seeing
the radiance.

I love him.... and of course Mary Oliver -- "Wild Geese" especially, I wear a charm on a neck lace to remind me of that poem "You do not have to be good...". um David Whyte as well - have a couple of his audio CDs. Viggo Mortensen (yum, AND he paints and writes, what's not to love?!), Billy Collins, Leanne Hanson - a particularly brilliant Aussie and and many many more - personally I think I read more contempory poetry than 'classics' ... ah well.