Vox Populi
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Laure-Anne Bosselaar: In Response to a Student Asking Where to Find Poetry During Difficult Times
It’s in morning’s first light, already throwing shadows
on beds, factories, orchards, & graves,
& in the gravelly you have a good day now, sweetie
from a diner’s old waitress.
In puddle mud on a child’s new rubber boots.
In an apple’s freckles at the farmer’s market.
Or in a rowboat its oars oily at the handles
from all the buoyant escapes.
In your friend’s voice. Or silence.
In all those years it takes for a barn to collapse.
In the terrified tenderness of a first kiss.
In a last kiss too.
~~~~~
Copyright 2025 Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. Her many collections of poetry include Lately: New and Selected Poems (Sungold, 2024).
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amazing
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Thank you for the solace this gem of a poem brings, Laure-Anne.
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Laure-Ann. The student to whom this moving and uplifting poem is addressed is me. Thank you!
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…er, Laure-Anne.
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How very, very kind of you, Ed…
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This poem pulled me out of my funk! Thank you, Laure-Anne! Smiling here.
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Kind of you, Gerald. Very kind.
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This seems actually poetic to me, in contrast with those so-called poems which to me are sentences of banal prose with arbitrary line breaks. Thank you.
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Thank you, Kaahrena.
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For some very mysterious reasons, I’m unable to thank Marty, Sean, Margo & Barbara — each time I press “Comment”…poof…my reply disappears. So thank you all, here’s hoping this will “stick”!
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I apologize for my drunken website, Laure-Anne. It seems to be very hungover today.
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For some reason I was able to reply to most of you, but tried over & over to reply to others and nothing seems to work. My apologies — but, I did try my best to let you **all** know how grateful I am for your support…
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Thank you, gladly, for such kind comments — I have replied to everyone, but, for some odd reason, some replies flashed, then disappeared as soon as I clicked on comment. My apologies to Barbara, Margo and Sean. No idea what happened…
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Such a glorious invitation of a list poem … the invitation to leap from these startlingly perfect specific moments into a list of our own living … oh, this poem. thank you. Just what I needed to bring me into the present that is also here in a difficult time.
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My arms around you…
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and THAT is a glorious poem, too ❤️❤️
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Wonderful and true ❤️
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Thank you!
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Love this gorgeous, moving song of a poem, Laure-Anne, and love the poet who made it!
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I love it too!
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Love you back. Come say hi soon, yes?
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Yes, it has been WAY too long, Dear One.
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Wonderful! And if a student ever asks me this question, I can simply say, “Here, read this.” Perfect.
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Kind heart that you are, Marty!
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Good friend that you are, Marty!
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Good heart and friend that you are… (I hope this reply will “stick”!)
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Oh, how beautiful, tender, loving, kinda Laure-Anne Bosselaar-ish, inimitable, true, day-making. Thank you, Laure-Anne, thank you, Michael.
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Thanks for being such a good literary citizen, Rose Mary!
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Warm thank you, Rose Mary!
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And is the little gasp that escapes after reading that perfect poem
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Thank you, Barbara!
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I’m choosing to comment, but only to say that the beauty of this poem leaves me speechless
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Yes
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Ah, dear friend. Thank you.
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I so lover her poetry. Always just the right images, the right rhythms to convey the heart of the matter, to ease us toward the hard truths with tenderness.
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Coming from you — thank you!
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Such a deft touch! I, too, love the line about the barn’s collapse, as well as the “buoyant escapes.” Ah, perfection!
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How very kind, Robert…
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Laure-Anne does the best of anyone to show me poetry is possible everywhere.
She reminds that poetry is not a fantasia set off to one side of life, but a creative way to get to the heart of things: beauty in its awe-shine for sure, but also the possibilities waiting all around us, even when they end with a last kiss.
She is brilliant at uncovering blessings.
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Thank you so much, Jim. I meant that.
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So much said in such a small space. What writing teacher hasn’t talked about the choice of images that resonate. Well here is a poem brimful with them. Really enjoyed reading this one this morning.
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Laure-Anne is my fave!
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Thank you, Robert. very much.
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Thanks for writing, Laure-Anne. A really fine poem that I really enjoyed. Every good wish,
Bob
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Gorgeous and perfect. Congratulations on today’s poem in Verse Daily, too! Another beauty
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Thank you, Jennifer — kind of you!
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Wow. Knockout poem,, Laure-Anne!
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Glad you liked it, Barbara
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Thank you,Barbara.
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Lovely in its simple yet rich images…
and I love the contrast between silence and all those years it takes a barn to collapse!
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Yes, I do too. Thanks, Margo!
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How kind, Margo…
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So wonderful is this poet, these terms in which she lives and breathes. There is a primacy to her being that says poetry is how she’s survived this world, its always been the solution and informs every vessel of her being of what to do next.
I trust, relish, and celebrate every word. vanGogh once said: “Art: I’ve risked my life for it.” Laure-Anne can say the same.
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I agree, Sean. Every phrase is so clean and clear it is as if an entire dance has been distilled into a single gesture.
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I’m most grateful, dear Sean.Very much so.
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