Stanley Kunitz

was one of America's Poet Laureates. I discovered him by accident almost four years ago when living with my aunt in a dreamworld where poets should be randomly discovered. I love his poetry, but his prose captures me--lyrical, but straightforward, concise, beautiful. I reread his introduction over and over again. Last winter I read his reflections of a garden and pretty much floated around the universe because of it. Kunitz's writing makes me want to write: a very comforting fact.

I finished The Collected Poems today; it includes work written from the 1920s to 1995 and exhibits a lifetime of thought. This collection isn't organized into an argument. The poems don't necessarily build on each other (these are collected and selected!). Although I prefer collections with an overall development, I appreciated that not everything requires one. Gives some peace when I consider my thesis...

Question: Why is it that people are so drawn to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice? Especially male poets passing their prime? I love the interpretations; yet I've read so many of them that I wonder if creating your own is part of entering and leaving the world (of writing).

Here's one reason I adore Stanley Kunitz (from his introductory "Reflections"): "Years ago I came to the realization that the most poignant of all lyric tensions stems from the awareness that we are living and dying at once. To embrace such knowledge and yet to remain compassionate and whole--that is the consummation of the endeavor of art....To put it simply, conservation of energy is the function of form....I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through it and see the world."

Yes, I believe.