Many Cities, Many Minds--Indiana Poets

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