American Poetry
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE ON POETRY AND PROSE POETRY – POEM OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “IF THIS IS YOUR FINAL DESTINATION” BY NICK FLYNN
This month’s poem, “If This is Your Final Destination” (2015), by Nick Flynn, mixes the mundane with the metaphysical, as the speaker meditates on the large, almost unanswerable questions of existence—what happens to us when we die?—and tries to string together a coherent narrative out of his past, present, and future. These different epochs of
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – POETRY AND PROSE POETRY: “ESSAY ON DEPARTURE” / “PANTOUM POEM” /“A MAN WITH SONS” BY MARILYN HACKER
Autumn is well under way, and we have some delightful seasonal poems to read as the days get shorter, the nights get a little spookier, and we spend more time indoors. For me, Marilyn Hacker’s “Essay on Departure” (2006) evokes that feeling of ghostliness that marks the change of season from summer to autumn. The
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – POETRY AND PROSE POETRY: “MARGARET” BY SPENCER REECE
Summer is over, autumn is here, and our monthly poetry reading group is back! This year brings us some exciting new developments. We are now called the English Reading Circle: Poetry and Prose Poetry (sister group to the English Reading Circle: Short Stories); and as this new name indicates, we will be expanding our reading
POETRY READING CLUB – POEM OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “Wishing Well” by Gregory Pardlo
Gregory Pardlo, recent winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, is the featured poet for the final session of our Poetry Reading Group. And, although this session will be the last one before we all retreat into summer vacation, you will be pleased to know that Pardlo will be visiting the International Institute on the