May 2017
From 2011 until November 2015 I was Poet Laureate of Vermont, during which time I visited 116 Vermont community libraries, not so much to read but to talk about what poetry can do that other modes of discourse can't. I loved the Q&A the most, because those within the academy often ask things that show how much they think they know, whereas library patrons are inclined to ask the important things: Who's talking here? To whom? Why? Where? I hope my poems can answer those questions, that no one needs some special knowledge or language to penetrate them. My twelfth collection of poems, NO DOUBT THE NAMELESS, is just out, as is my fourth collection of personal essays, WHAT'S THE STORY? REFLECTIONS ON A LIFE GROWN LONG. www.sydneylea.net
Ave, Mr. President
In our slow brook the handsome umber
leaf floats calm no matter
The vicious winds of a winter thaw.
My dark grandchildren wonder
at what they don't yet know to call
but I do dignity. Farewell.
–January 20, 2017
© 2017 Sydney Lea
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