May 2016
When I joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, I was only planning on staying a few years. That was over fifteen years ago. In fact, the sentiment “that wasn’t what I expected to happen” is probably at the core of most of my work. I’ve published six collections of poetry with Press 53, including this April, Exit, pursued by a bear, a collection of poems triggered by stage directions in Shakespeare. Every New Year’s Eve I resolve to improve my guitar playing and learn how to cook more interesting dishes; the fact that each year I genuinely believe this will happen reveals a fundamentally optimistic nature.
My website: www.josephrobertmills.com
My website: www.josephrobertmills.com
Alignment
Because the road to the daycare goes east,
on spring mornings we drive towards the sun
along a corridor of flowering dogwoods,
and it may be the illuminated white petals,
the second coffee I had before we left,
or Pink doing a Steve Miller song, the one
from Happy Feet that made me realize
she has a great voice, but suddenly I’m close
to tears. I have to lock my elbows to keep
the van on the road. Then I start laughing
because of how difficult it would be to explain
I drove into a tree after being overwhelmed
by the enigmatic beauty of this world.
From the backseat, my son asks, “Daddy,
What’s wrong?” and when I say, “Nothing,
I’m just happy,” he claps, “I’m happy too!”
-from Love and Other Collisions
©2016 Joseph Mills