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Poetry Magazine
December 2008
Poems by Roddy Lumsden, Todd Boss, Joan Houlihan, Ange Mlinko, Fred D'Aguiar, R.S. Gwynn, Glenn Morazzini, Lilly Poetry Fellows: Nicky Beer, Michael Rutherglen, Roger Reeves; and more More
Harriet

Lavinia Greenlaw
Read the foreign and the dead

jewish%20cemetery%20near%20lubin%20june%2006%202.jpg


I grew up in a house full of books and made my way through the shelves.

There wasn’t much else to do.

I didn’t have a clue who anyone was, so I read poems not poets.

Those who formed me were from mythical places: Eastern Europe (lurking behind the Iron Curtain) and America (lurking behind the album cover and cinema screen).

They took me outside and so I got to see in.

09.30.08 | Comments (3)



Comments


Lavinia Greenlaw, I wish you would write more. Your posts make me feel less alone. -- Ange

Posted by: Ange Mlinko on September 30, 2008 8:13 AM

"Read poems, not poets" is as a good a prescription. I wonder what would become of the current leading lights if we all applied that standard.

Posted by: Joseph Hutchison on September 30, 2008 8:19 AM

I doubt they would dim, Joseph.

Posted by: Lbehrendt on September 30, 2008 6:33 PM

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