Friday, January 17, 2014

I Wish I'd Written This

Writers are Lovers

of mystery
as you can see
from the words of a poet.
Take, for instance, Robert Frost,
who in early adulthood stepped away
from poetry attempting to appease his family
with completion of higher academics, brief stints
in teaching, and reporting news slanted with a poetic view--

he once went on to describe a flagpole in front of the post office
as beauty with a majestic eagle who, in a mighty gust of wind,  
perched atop a pole by a stately white building,
adorned the heavens until a dreadful hunter
came along and shot it dead, that fool,
when merely the wind
knocked it down--

does a reporter write like that? No, only poets such as Robert Frost,
whose steps away from writing only led him back to feather pen,
can sustain wedding nights where hasty visitors knock
at cabin doors, when all around the deserted woods
no other light shines, and one is left wondering
if perhaps the stranger was the bride's true
love left with missing clues.

By Laurie Kolp


(I had to put the poet's name last this time, instead of directly under the title of the poem, as the title leads straight into the poem, doing double duty as a first line.)

I first encountered Laurie Kolp at Poetic Asides some years ago when we were both participating in a 'poem a day' challenge there, and we have been encountering each other there and at other places online ever since. 

She may already be known to you too as an active online poet — and one of those who spends a lot of time enabling other people's poetic development. For instance, she writes many of the 'Pretzels and Bullfights' posts at the dVerse ~ Poets Pub community, where her description as one of the team says:

Laurie Kolp is an award-winning poet who has been published worldwide. She lives in Southeast Texas with the beach and Big Thicket at her fingertips (opposite hands, of course). She graduated from Texas A&M University and taught school for twelve years until she became a SAHM of her three children and husband. Laurie likes writing not only poetry, but creative nonfiction and fiction as well. Her two dogs, Snowy and Jake, are her sounding boards and cheerleaders. You can find her at Bird’s-Eye Gemini and Laurie Kolp Poetry. twitter: @KolpLaurie


She is also one of several hosts of Poetry Jam, a blog of weekly prompts for poets, and she is Vice President of Texas Gulf Coast Writers. (How does she find the time?)

She participates in Poets United too. 'Laurie Kolp Poetry' (then called  'Conversations with Laurie') was featured as Blog of the Week in May 2011, and she was the subject of one of Sherry's wonderful 'Life of a Poet' interviews in March 2012.

I just love her tale, above, of poor Robert Frost trying to get away from poetry and be normal to please his family, and failing utterly. (And aren't we glad of that!)

It's not difficult to find more of her work. Her two blogs are both poetry blogs, reflecting, she tells us, different aspects of herself. She has been widely published in literary magazines etc., and is included in the anthology Poetic Bloomings: the first year, edited by Marie Elena Good and Walt Wojtanik and in pay attention: a river of stones, ed. Fiona Robyn and Kaspalita.

Her complete poetry collection (to date), to be released in March 2014, is Upon the Blue Couch from Winter Goose Publishing. 



Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually their authors).



25 comments:

  1. Always enjoy a Laurie Kolp 'read' - this poem is as delightful as one might expect. I too became acquainted with Laurie Kolp over at the original "street" of Poetic Asides and have watched her career as a writer blossom over the years. A former NaNoWriMo 'buddy' -she is also a wonderful cheer-leader. Laurie Kolp's poetry was also included in the anthology Prompted, A International Collection of Poems, edited by Pearl Ketover Prilik. Along with many others I look forward to her upcoming collection.

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  2. Thanks for this wonderful write up, Rosemary... and thank you for your sweet comment, Pearl (Sis-Boom-Bah).

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  3. 'Writers are Lovers' is a wonderfully written piece as a dedication to Robert Frost but also in its own 'write'.

    Gracias for introducing me to Laurie Kolp

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  4. I always enjoy reading Laurie's poems! Laurie - with your busy schedule, thank you for your much appreciated comments! I'm looking forward to the release of Upon the Blue Couch which I plan to read on my yellow couch!

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  5. Like all of you I enjoy her posts and I am glad to see her highlighted here...

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  6. Yay, Laurie! You are a bright light to me. I am so glad to see you here!

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  7. Excellent poem choice, Rosemary.....by a wonderful person and poet!! Love your writing, Laurie.

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  8. Ah...I really wish I'd written this....Thank you Rosemary for highlighting Laurie Kolp....

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  9. Yippee! I LOVED coming in here and seeing our Laurie featured. Great idea, Rosemary! We dont have to go far from home to find gifted poets! Laurie, I love this poem and had missed it, so am happy to have found it - and you - here!!

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  10. I too love Robert Frost's poetry! "I see the birches bending to and fro across the line of darker straighter trees . . . " completely blows me away. I shall now have to chase down Kolp poetry just to see how a fellow Frost fan lives and writes!

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  11. Oh what a lovely poem.. writers ARE true lovers.. !! thanks for posting it here..

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  12. Thanks for your kind words everyone!

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  13. Oh, I so love this process! Because I live in Australia, my posts go up on Friday night my time — then I open my computer in the morning, and there are all these lovely comments. :) It is no surprise to me that Laurie's poem is popular with the many who already appreciate her work, and with those who are just discovering it.

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  14. Great poem, Laurie! I always appreciate your poetry, your prompts as well as your lovely comments.

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  15. woot....def a great selection...laurie is beautiful people, beyond the poetry/blog/writing...she def deserves any/all the accolades she gets....smiles

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  16. Laurie, I am in awe of your talent. You never fail me. Just when I think I have read your best, I read another.

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  17. Love the poem! The structure is really neat how you did the lines! Following!

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  18. I really appreciate your comments and support... and thanks, again, Rosemary, for featuring this poem!

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  19. Laurie,

    Isn't it absolutely dreadful how many "missing clues" there seem to be? If only we could, for a day, grow an extra set of heads and legs and travel down the chosen path and the road not taken. You've written a very good poem here. I am curious about the choice of structure.

    I also enjoy reading Robert. He is one of the few who can turn the seemingly mundane, Apple Picking for instance, into something of a roller coaster.

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  20. I thought I'd left a comment here my first read-through but see I did not...Laurie and I go way back and hers is one of the poetic friendships I value most...Everything she writes I can honestly say, I wish I'd written...she's a talent to be reckoned with and I can't wait for her new book to come out: "Upon the Blue Couch" promises to be real treat.

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