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Land of Cockaigne
Ed Ochester's poems have a colloquial immediacy and sparking wit that appeal to a wider readership than most mainstream verse. Say Hello to the Ocean for Me Tell her I remember her true
Thalassa. Tell her how dessicated I am.
Tell her I'm dreaming of squid
and the rich bed of the pearly oyster.
Tell her I'm goofy for her
as I always have been,
tell her again how much
I love to float with
a giant cigar smoking
like a tiny Titanic.
Tell her I remember
the green abd blue silks
of the Gulf Stream,
and the iron waves
off Rockaway where
I was born, where
even now the aged
and the infirm,
Thalassa,
walk through the whispering
fans of foam
to watch a freighter
sail off the horizon
and, Thalassa,
they wade in deeper
on their stilt legs,
peer at the cumuli forming--
to them it's just clouds --
and the weightless gulls
and wonderful their bodies
lighter and lighter Ed Ochester , author of eleven books of poetry, has edited The Living American Poetry Now and The Pittsburgh Book of Contemporary American Poetry. Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, a member of the Core Faculty of the Bennington MFA Writing Seminars, and past-president of Associated Writing Programs, Ochester is also the editor of the University of Pittsburgh Press Poetry Series.
Thalassa. Tell her how dessicated I am.
Tell her I'm dreaming of squid
and the rich bed of the pearly oyster.
Tell her I'm goofy for her
as I always have been,
tell her again how much
I love to float with
a giant cigar smoking
like a tiny Titanic.
Tell her I remember
the green abd blue silks
of the Gulf Stream,
and the iron waves
off Rockaway where
I was born, where
even now the aged
and the infirm,
Thalassa,
walk through the whispering
fans of foam
to watch a freighter
sail off the horizon
and, Thalassa,
they wade in deeper
on their stilt legs,
peer at the cumuli forming--
to them it's just clouds --
and the weightless gulls
and wonderful their bodies
lighter and lighter Ed Ochester , author of eleven books of poetry, has edited The Living American Poetry Now and The Pittsburgh Book of Contemporary American Poetry. Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, a member of the Core Faculty of the Bennington MFA Writing Seminars, and past-president of Associated Writing Programs, Ochester is also the editor of the University of Pittsburgh Press Poetry Series.
- GenresPoetry
Paperback
Published April 1, 2001
12 people want to read
About the author
Ed Ochester
22 books4 followersEd Ochester is the editor of the Pitt Poetry Series and is a member of the core faculty of the Bennington MFA Writing Seminars. He has published seven books of poems, as well as eight limited editions, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the George Garrett Award from the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, and the "artist of the year" award from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Poems of his were selected for Best American Poems 2007 and 2013.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 6, 2008
Great, great, great! Ed Ochester is brilliant. Funny, clever, sweet, cantankerous, earthy, wry. Brilliant. Read Ed Ochester.
Displaying 1 of 1 review