Many Cities, Many Minds--Indiana Poets

 Poets from Indiana, Robert Underwood Johnson I know, you're like, wait, that guy looks old. Yep, Robert Underwood Johnson died in 1937. He lived through the Civil War, served as an ambassador to Italy, went camping with John Muir (yes, that one), argued for copyright laws, argued for land conservation and women's rights. He hung out with Teddy Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Ulysses S. Grant, Henry James, and many others. And yes, he grew up in Indiana and graduated from Earlham College in Richmond at the age of 14. Still, even more importantly, he was a poet with many books to his name. I first came across his work in Eletha Mae Taylor's Indiana Poetry  compilation. It contains this poem, "Titian's Two Loves, in the Borghese."               One forgets not the first dead he sorrowed over;                One forgets not the first kiss of the first lover.         ...

Poets from Indiana, Catherine Bowman Wait, you say, again with a poet not born in Indiana! Yep, Catherine Bowman was born in El Paso, Texas, and she received her MFA from Columbia University in New York, but she's been teaching and living in Bloomington for a long time at this point, and if there's one thing this blog shows, it's that some of Indiana's greatest writers are transplants. Catherine Bowman is one of those. And really, one of her books is titled 1--800-HOT-RIBS*. The title alone of this book hints a little at her range and sensibilities as a poet. Some of her other books are titled The Plath Cabinet  and Can I Finish Please?  One of my favorite of her poems, "Story of a Tree," has the following lines: tree of memory, tree of ghosts, tree of rain— under birdsong whispers you cradled me in your canopy. When I was a baby, I stroked the soft hair on your leaves. You were my first true church, and when rains came our whole bodies shook and shimmered wit...

 Poets from Indiana, Karen Kovacik This one, yes, this poet is fully Indiana. She was born in East Chicago, grew up in Highland, worked in Indianapolis, and lived in Crown Point. She even held the Indiana Poet Laureate position for a term. I suspect that sometimes her own work gets overshadowed by the wonderful translation work she does of Polish poets, but she's a excellent poet on her own. In fact, many classic images of The Region show up in her work, including some nice portraits of life both as a child and later as an adult coming to terms with her Polish heritage.   One of my favorites comes from her book Beyond the Velvet Curtain , and it's titled "Babel." Here's an excerpt.  Scum from the pickle crock, dumplings with plum the Slovak uncles tossing old Stephen to the celing, while the American daddy I thought was so smart shrieked dobry, dobry , like a dim bird from Bratislava, and Babcia flapped her veined, impatient hands at him. 

 Poets from Indiana, Mari Evans OK, so she was born and educated in Ohio. I know, but she spent 70 years in Indianapolis, and that clearly puts her in that Indiana poet category, and Indiana needs poets like her to open itself up to the rest of the world. She was an activist, playwright, poet, children's author, and more. She was both politically/socially aware and joyous, and it can be hard to do both of those. Sonia Sanchez said of her at Evans' funeral, "We were reborn in your spreading sails." I suspect that a entire generation of writes fit under those sails, especially since she was a long-time teacher, writer, and supporter of others.  For a glimpse of her work, look at this excerpt from "I am a Black Woman:" I am a black woman tall as a cypress strong beyond all definition still defying place and time and circumstance assailed impervious indestructible Look on me and be renewed

Poets from Indiana, Evaleen Stein So, I'm going way back for this one, but Evaleen Stein is one of most Indiana poets featured yet. She lived and died in Lafayette. And what's more, she's pretty amazing. She's probably best known for writing novels for children, but she wrote hundreds of poems. Many of them are aimed at children, but many are observations of local nature. In addition, she translated poems from Italian and Japanese, no small feat. Just consider this excerpt from "Showery Time" (you can find the whole poem here ): In countless fluted creases The little elm-leaves show, While white as carded fleeces The dogwood blossoms blow. A rosy robe is wrapping The early red-bud trees; But still the haws are napping, Nor heed the honey-bees. And still in lazy sleeping The apple-buds are bound, But tulip-tips are peeping From out the garden ground.  This is a peaceful little poem with natural images that still scream Indiana, and it's really ju...

Poets from Indiana, Ross Gay I know, you all are like, what? Nope, not Indiana. But wait! Yes, I know Ross Gay was not born in Indiana but next door in Ohio. I also know that he spent most of his life outside Indiana. Still, he's been at IUB since 2007, so he's had a long stint here, and he's clearly become important to Bloomington life, so yes, Indiana poet. And honestly, with his sense of joy, awareness of the actual landscape and plants, and care for human life, I'd say Indiana is lucky to have him guiding the next wave of poets.   Take a look at this excerpt from a well-known poem of his, "Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be." You can find the entire poem on the Poetry Foundation site .  Would you curse me my careless caressing you into this world or would you rise up   and, mustering all your strength into that tiny throat which one day, no doubt, would grow big and strong,   scream and scream and scream until you break the back of one in...