Thank you, Eric. I owe you an email, but I am slow these days….

So when I found his selected poems on the shelf and opened it-- the first poem I saw was "Toward a February Songbook." If that's not fate what is? Two poems about the grandeur of February! It's easy and impossible. . .

This passage jumped out at me:
And as for poetry, it's easy
And impossible--like stealing from yourself.

--Paul Violi, "Thief Tempted by the Grandeur of February"

"... and like you
I have stopped at a corner and suddenly
staggered with the grace of it all. . . ."

Thanks for reading, Amanda. Means a lot to me.

P.S. Far-flung friends-- I forgot to add that there should be a video of the event. It should be available on Zoom at the time? And then later, I think, on YouTube. O brave world!...

The book is from the wonderful Library of America. Introduction by Harold Bloom. And here's the first poem I turned to. . . .

That’s one fine poem!

Another line I love:
"I love how the sky is connected to a part of us that understands something big and knows nothing about it too."

What a strange and wonderful poem