Vox Populi
A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 6,000,000 visitors since 2014 and over 9,000 archived posts.
Kurt Brown: A Moment
I keep returning to that moment, one
day at your kitchen table with the sun
slanting in through the glass above your sink.
You stood before me, brushing your long hair,
stroke after stroke in the astonished air
while you talked of nothing, and I sipped my drink.
Then suddenly you bent your head, and threw
your hair forward in a bright fan to show
your beauty in a simple act, at once
casual and contrived, while I sat there
like some stone figure in a stone chair—
such blatant beauty required a response.
But I did nothing, though my heart halted
in my chest, a small, numb, exalted
animal, until you tossed that golden wrack
of hair to settle once again upon
your shoulders and you smiled your wan
smile and I recalled myself — and smiled back.
~~~~~
Copyright 2026 the estate of Kurt Brown. Included in Vox Populi by permission of Laure-Anne Bosselaar.
Kurt Brown (1944-2013) was a highly regarded poet, editor, and literary activist. He founded the Aspen Writer’s Conference, now called Summer Words, in 1976. It was there that he met his wife, Belgian-American poet Laure-Anne Bosselaar. He was the author of several full-length poetry collections, including I’ve Come This Far to Say Hello: Poems Selected and New (Tiger Bark Press).
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Just wonderful! A gift, given, and received. I believe this kind of gift-giving does not happen very often….and sadly, for most humans, almost never.
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Oh to be seen like that, to be loved so richly, what a gift for us all.
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How kind, how very kind of you, Michael, to have chosen this poem for Valentine’s Day. He wrote this poem in the late eighties and you gave it “A Moment” again. Thank you. And love to the kind hearts on Vox Populi…
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How kind, how very kind of you, Michael, to publish this poem on Valentine’s day — he wrote this poem in the late eighties, and you gave it “A Moment” again. Thank you!
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A beautiful Valentine’s Day poem. Thank you. There are at least 20 birds on the feeder outside my window and a ray of sun is brightening the pink peach blooms on my new little tree. I had forgotten it was Valentine’s Day, nothing for my grandchildren, and now I am back stirring today’s other offering.
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Thanks, Barb. I love your posts here.
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This is the perfect Valentine. Thank you, Michael and Laure-Anne.
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Thank YOU, Marty.
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A moment captured, simple and transcendent. The speaker (Kurt) is lucky to have witnessed it. And we, the readers, are lucky to have witnessed Kurt. Charles ________________________________
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Lucky. Yes.
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And what a moment! Gorgeous and meaningful poem. Happy St Valentine’s Day.
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Happy everything, Rose Mary!
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“my heart halted” when I read this poem. Thank you.
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Mine too, Bill.
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Love and beauty, with a golden wrack of hair in the astonished air.
The kitchen sink miracle of Kurt Brown’s poem.
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The kitchen sink miracle… beautiful phrase, Jim.
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Wow. I LOVE this poem!
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Me too.
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Wonderful poem!
“But I did nothing, though my heart halted
in my chest, a small, numb, exalted
animal, “
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It is wonderful, isn’t it? Thanks, Jason.
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How wonderful to have poems by both Laure-Anne and Kurt in one week, both tender and touching lightly but precisely on the way love graces our hearts, both while the one we love is in or presence and after they are gone.
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exactly. great poets come in pairs like shoes.
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This is such a beautiful and private moment I almost feel guilty for reading it, loving it. Thank you.
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yes, it is a very intimate moment that the poet is describing.
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