what it is to be on earth

To me, poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment.

– Galway Kinnell

Though I have long loved Kinnell’s poetry, I confess I thought he was maybe Irish, because somehow Galway sounds Irish to me.  To discover that he was Rhode Island born (like half of my family) and died in Vermont (where the family I married into is from) made me love him even more.  And then to find out that he was also a Princetonian (his roommate was W.S. Merwin, a fact that blows my mind) surprised me, happily, even more.

His passing is a great loss.

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