I thought I might have forgotten how to read

And then I found a wormhole where I got to thumb through Wait Till I’m Dead Uncollected Poems by Allen Ginsberg as well as Tracy K Smith’s Wade in the Water a gift @julienaslund5866 gave to me in the spring of 2021. Both are equally worth investigating and offer very different perspectives in space and perspective. One of my favorite recollections from Ginsberg was a very simple poem that was cited as having first being published in “Fuck You” literary magazine, which made me laugh. I love Ginsberg’s journalistic approach to poems in this edition– many reference the day, Thursday October 4th, for example. At the end, there is an interview poem with Carl Solomon just before Solomon’s death. It is sticking with me. The final poem is a dream including Carl, which was a great way to end this book. Tracy K Smith is a poet laureate of the USA and her collection had some themes about nature and motherhood, children, continuation and activism that are all worth considering. “The Angels” (https://www.theawl.com/2017/05/a-poem-by-tracy-k-smith/) is one I’ll continue to revisit though the collection as a whole stands as a great entrance into your own meta-cognition. Finally, the title Wait Till I’m Dead comes from this moon poem:

Rainy night on Union Square, full moon. Want more poems? Wait till I’m dead.

How’s your reading coming along? I hope you’re staying warm and well this January.