Sam Hamill: Three Poems
Septuagenarian
Sitting alone
in late summer twilight
sipping cold sake
reading
the obituaries of my friends
.
To Margaret, the Librarian
It was a librarian
who first showed me
how to properly
open a book.
The rest
is all my fault.
.
The Oracle
Only the fish who leaps
sees the moon on the water.
Copyright 2018 The Estate of Sam Hamill. From After Morning Rain published by Tiger Bark Press. Included in Vox Populi by permission of the publisher.
.
Sam Hamill (1943-2018) grew up on a Utah farm. He was Founding Editor of Copper Canyon Press and served as Editor there for thirty-two years. He taught in artist-in-residency programs in schools and prisons and worked with Domestic Violence programs. He directed the Port Townsend Writers Conference for nine years, and in 2003, founded Poets Against the War. He is the author of more than forty books, including celebrated translations from ancient Chinese, Japanese, Greek and Latin. (photo: Ian Boyden)
I love that Sam’s posts come up in my Facebook memories every once in awhile. I came to know him late. Somewhere I have a poem I wrote about reading one of his poems on Facebook.
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One wouldn’t have to be a septuagenarium to love these, but as I am, I doubly love them. Thank you for offering them to us.
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