At last! Talent is rewarded!

My favorite poet (and I hope someday poet laureate) Tony Hoagland has received a major prize. It is well deserved, I am thrilled for him.

Check out his poems online and buy his books- the Fountain Book Store is your best local choice, please buy from small booksellers, do not patronize Amazon, they are trying to shut out small DIY publishers such as Lulu.com (go here for discussions concerning this).

My favorite lines are from Tony Hoagland's poem

Self-Improvement

So the avenues we walk down,
full of bodies wearing faces,
are full of hidden talent:
enough to make pianos moan,
sidewalks split,
streetlights deliriously flicker.


There is so much to be afraid of in this world, so much tragedy is at every turn. These lines by Hoagland remind me of the possibilities new faces can hold, how they might open up something entirely new within me. It's the kind of magic that might make a piano moan, a sidewalk split, or something even more incredible that waits, not in fear or anger, but with beauty and hope