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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 with God’s words.


The entire poem can be found on the Poetry Foundation page, though the richness of her connection with nature and with a childhood memory is clear from this excerpt alone. Having such memories myself, I feel like it is very easy to connect to this poem and sink into its language. 


*Yes, I know you think I made this up. Perhaps you think I made up Cathy too, but oh, dear reader, Google for yourself. Never trust me, the unworthy narrator. 

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