Vox Populi
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Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Tonight’s Dinner Companions
As the stew simmers on the stove, I set a place at the table for you, thin, dog-eared book I never tire of dog-earing again, & you, whirr in the wind, as you flutter the book’s pages too, & you, photo of a stout Flemish farmer brandishing seven dead muskrats, & you, memory of a Brussels attic: my hand over my first lover’s hand on my heart — weighing, & you, old poet, gone, whose lines I often say aloud against the ocean’s constant shush, & you, my love’s baseball cap, the one he kept losing & is now on a shelf, never to be lost again, & you, reader, to whom I have been writing most of my life — here: this place is for you.
Copyright 2023 Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently, These Many Rooms (Four Way Books, 2019).
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Lovely lovely poem!
I’m grateful for so much beauty.
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yes, am I grateful.
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Gracie mille!
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Is it mucho gracias I need to say to you, or the Gracie Mille I posted a few minutes ago? Who cares after all if it’s full of gratitude, it’ll work in any language!
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Oh, I love this, and thank you for gifting us, as readers, such a warm and tender place.
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Thanks, David. Yes, Laure-Anne’s poems are gems.
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Thank YOU!
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Thank you. A tasty, reflective stew. Each guest brings something nourishing. Baseball cap — perfect, the best ones disappear & then are miraculously rediscovered.
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I agree, Mike!
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And I say “Thank you” as I gratefully pull out a chair…
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Oh, yes.
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Love this although fewer items remain as reminders after 13 years. Yet I dine with my Jizo statue snd Tashi may grab a kibble from her bowl to join me.
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Bless you, Barbara!
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I love these elegiac lines:
& you, old poet, gone, whose lines I often
say aloud against the ocean’s constant shush,
& you, my love’s baseball cap, the one he kept
losing & is now on a shelf, never to be lost again
Not to mention the final tribute to yours truly. Exquisitly touching.
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I agree, Matthew! Thank you.
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Thank you kindly, Matthew!
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Lovely, lovely poem. Thank you, Laure-Anne!
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Thanks, Martha. It is a lovely poem. Emotional, but not sentimental: a difficult balance for a poet to hold.
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How kind of you, Martha — thank you!
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Nice!
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Thanks, Jason!
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There will always be room at my table for the air and rooms Laure-Anne Bosselaar conjures, for Laure-Anne, for the voices spoken and unspoken in her beautiful poetry.
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Laure-Anne Bosselaar is arguably the best lyric poet in America. She is a national treasure.
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Thank you both — truly. Lucky me.
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Lucky us, dearest Laure-Anne, that we are privileged to read and re-read your poetry and learn so much from you – even if it embarrasses you to read what we feel and think.
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