Poets and Poems: Claude Wilkinson and "Soon Done with the Crosses"

In his fourth collection of poetry, World Without End, Claude Wilkinson considered the wonder of everyday objects and events, finding meaning in the things we see and often look right past because, well, they’re so common and expected. Wilkinson stopped, looked, and considered whether he had missing something. And he had. 

In his 2023 collection, Soon Done with the Crosses, Wilkinson retains that idea of finding meaning in the everyday but applies it to the questions that seem to be increasingly haunting us. Why is there so much growing anger and hate? Why is there a growing intolerance for others’ opinions and beliefs? How have we come to objectifying people we disagree with, considering them “the other”?

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

To a Friend Estranged from Me – poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Tolkien the Timekeeper – Henry Oliver at Prospect Magazine.

 

To touch – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher. 

 

“Kenosis,” poem by Luci Shaw – Malcolm Guite.

 

Travelers – poem by Robert McDowell at Every Day Poems.

Poets and Poems: Claude Wilkinson and "World Without End"

Consider everyday activities and objects, like a flight of doves, mowing the grass, pressing a flower or four-leaf clover in a book, salvia in the flower garden, or snow. We see them, we experience them, we sometimes wonder at their beauty or even meaning. (As a kid, I often wondered at the meaning of mowing the grass every week, and I decided it was something put on this earth to aggravate children.) 

Poet Claude Wilkinson looks at these things, and he sees what we see, but he sees more. He notes the visible and what can be seen, but he also notes what is invisible and what isn’t readily seen. And in the unseen, he finds beauty, purpose, and meaning, and he realizes that often the unseen is more important, and more vital, than what can be readily seen.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Two Sonnets – James Sales at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Attention Span – poem by Jerry Barrett at Gerald the Writer. 

 

Poetry Prompt: Heart and Soul – Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

At the Fishhouses – poem by Elizabeth Bishop at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin). 

 

Uncredited: poem by Boris Dralyuk – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

A Housewife, Walking – poem by Kate Gaston at Rabbit Room Poetry.