Evie Shockley: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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quiet as it’s kept

 

no one tells you about these boys  :  their quiet feminism

grows like wildflowers  :  in their mothers’ gardens  :  you

should take a field

                                   trip  :  i’m telling you  :  they are

                                                                                             like

architechtural flourishes

                                             unseen

                                                            all about town  :  baroquing

libraries  :  finishing museums with clean modern lines  :  no

one tells you not to look past neat

                                                                 in search of

                                                                                          shine

or brawn  :  the masculinity that winks and whistles at you

like times

                    square or roars and kicks up dust like a pick-up

truck  :  the open

                                secret of such sexiness has its charms  : 

but the boys who open doors for men

                                                                      and

                                                                                women  :  who

catch you watching them adjust

                                                            their glasses and eye you

a smile  :  no one tells you what such subtle signs can mean 

:  i’m telling you that these boys

                                                            flowering

                                                                                 flourishing

and their quiet twinkling eyes can spark enough heat to warm

you through a massachusetts winter  :  pools of melt making

mud of your footprints  :  behind you

                                                                    the ice freezing silently

over your private spring

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Evie Shockley is a poet and scholar. Her most recent poetry collections, the new black (Wesleyan, 2011) and semiautomatic (Wesleyan, 2017), both won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; the latter was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the LA Times Book Prize.  Her poetry has appeared internationally in print and audio formats, in English and in translation. She has received the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Stephen Henderson Award, the Holmes National Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Cave Canem, among others.  Shockley is Professor of English at Rutgers University.

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      James Dunbar, Field of Wildflowers

Comments

[clarinda]

I am so happy to make this poet's acquaintance via such a wonderfully unexpected take on the M-word!Thank you both!

[Holly]

Thank you for calling attention to Eve Shockley and especially this poem. Head-clearing and very welcome. (I just saw The Power of the Dog. 🙀)

[HS]

*Evie. Sheesh! (As if typos weren’t my signature.)

[lally]

wonderfully insightful, lyrically exultant, totally satisfying poetic experience, thank you

[Terence Winch]

Clarinda: Glad you liked it.

[Terence Winch]

You're very welcome, Holly. I'm pleased you liked it.

[Denise Duhamel]

Gorgeous! I was just talking about this very subject yesterday--the beautiful vulnerability of little boys, especially. Love this poem, Evie!

[Grace Cavalieri]

EVIE: You know I've always loved you; and that I've taught THE NEW BLACK in class. Now, with this poem, I see your heart again. And your private spring. Thank you.
GRACE

[april havoc]

We have a winner.

[Beth J]

Beautiful and heart-melting for this cold time. Thank you.

[Eileen]

Beautiful and so true. Love this poem.

[Evie Shockley]

Thank you all for the generous, kind words about this poem! (And a special thanks & hello to Grace!!)

Peace,
Evie

[Ann Bracken]

Beautiful poem, Evie. Wonderful lines and a great reminder of the sweetness inside of so many boys. Thank you.

[Peter Kearney]

What an enjoyable poem! I could want to go back to boyhood and this time make a better go of it.