Good, Good Poems

I’m reading Good Poems, Garrison Keillor’s wonderful anthology. Two things I love about this book:  First, the poems are relatable, for the most part. Although they might be written by poets you studied in school—or were supposed to—these are not the poems that were chosen for those school anthologies. These are more down-to-earth. These are great! (Not that those weren’t.) And there are poets I’ve never heard of in there who are also great—contemporary poets who do poetry slams, writing about commonplace things like therapy, apartments, coffee, and of course love. There’s one I like by a writer named Hal Sirowitz, called “Lending Out Books.” It’s about lending books to a woman one likes, thinking it’s a good way to see her again. Instead, she doesn’t read the books, but she’s afraid you’ll ask her to discuss them, so she doesn’t ever return them, and cancels your date. I wanted to quote the whole poem here, but I’m pretty sure it would be a copyright violation. Second, I like the biographies of the poets at the back of this book. Usually a straightforward, mundane grouping, these are actually interesting and clever—just as good as the poems, almost; at any rate, not to be overlooked. They tell juicy tidbits about the writers, personal things you might really be interested in. Some contain quotes from the poets, like this one, from D. H. Lawrence: “It is no good casting out devils. They belong to us, we must accept them and be at peace with them.”  I really like that! I’m going on a spiritual retreat this weekend, and I’m going to take this book with me, along with a couple of others that are normally shelved in the Spiritual section. I think it qualifies as a spiritual book. It’s divided into sections that include O Lord, The End, and Resurrection—along with A Day, Music, Scenes, Lovers, Failure, Trips, and more. This book inspires me.