Jack Walker Press

National Poetry Month sparks thoughts of poetry even in a newsletter with a focus on creative nonfiction

So, I went to bed thinking about a latent image stuck in a file drawer deep in my brain about a woman reading a poem in her kitchen. The question, What is that poem? kept me awake for at least an hour. I awoke trying to recall as I shuffled toward the coffee.  While pouring my morning coffee, rays from sunrise bounced off the stainless refrigerator, pinged my head, and targeted the file drawers in my noggin. I pulled Jason Shinder’s ‘Stupid Hope’ from a bookcase, and there it was.

Eternity by Jason Shinder

From Stupid Hope

A poem written three thousand years ago

about a man who walks among horses

grazing on a hill under the small stars

comes to life on a page in a book

and the woman reading the poem,

in the silence between the words,

in her kitchen, filled with a gold, metallic light

finds the experience of living in that moment

so clearly described as to make her feel finally known

by someone—and every time the poem is read,

no matter her situation or her age,

this is more or less what happens.

Poets often write in multiple genres: Donald Hall, Maya Angelou, Michael Ondaatje, and many more. And they even blend genre’s in the same book. Jason Shinder kept a cancer journal. I celebrate those of you who can mix it up.

–Amy Lou Jenkins