ABIGAIL BURNHAM BLOOM : Poetry Circle

One Page Poetry Circle Archive

abigail burnham bloom one page poetry circle

Welcome to the One Page Poetry Circle!

Date: March 18, 2025
Theme: Poetry and Trash
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Place: St. Agnes Branch Library, 444 Amsterdam Ave, 3rd Fl. Or by email (see addresses below)

Find a poem! Show up! Or, send a poem by email!

We're back for the seventeenth spring season of the One Page Poetry Circle where people examine the works of established poets. While there is no instructor and this is not a workshop for personal writing, once a month OPPC gives everyone a place to become teachers and learners to explore the form, content, language and meaning of poetry. Since the circle began, participants have selected and discussed 1676 poems and have read countless others in pursuit of poetry that speaks to them.

GOOD NEWS:
The One Page Poetry Circle has returned to the St. Agnes Library.
In addition, for those who are unable to attend, you will still be able to participate by email.

The Newfoundland poet, Anna Swanson, wrote The Garbage Poems when she was inspired by the trash around and in her swimming hole. Many exposed words intrigued her and she created found poetry with all the words (except the titles) coming from garbage. At the website you can see where each word originated by running your cursor over the words in the poems. The first poem, "For the boys cliff-jumping by the memorial stone," begins:

We, the Full Throttle.
The cluster-pak of body, water, will.
We, the cold open falls, the certified fountains
Of no moderation. We are this Sunlight. This skin! Why?
Why not? We are the famous flavour.
We are the wonderful.

At a reading of his poem, "The Town Dump," Howard Nemerov remarked to the audience that his generation of poets was taught to believe it "better to write about really ugly subjects because then you could have some assurance that whatever beauty there was in the result would belong to you and not the subject." When he wrote the poem, he was thinking about the Wellfleet dump on Cape Cod.

A mile out in the marshes, under a sky
Which seems to be always going away
In a hurry, on that Venetian land threaded
With hidden canals, you will find the city
Which seconds ours (so cemeteries, too,
Reflect a town from hillsides out of town),
Where Being most Becomingly ends up
Becoming some more. From cardboard tenements,
Windowed with cellophane, or simply tenting
In paper bags, the angry mackerel eyes
Glare at you out of stove-in, sunken heads
Far from the sea; the lobster, also, lifts
An empty claw in his most minatory
Of gestures; oyster, crab, and mussel shells
Lie here in heaps, savage as money hurled
Away at the gate of hell. If you want results,
These are results.

If you can make the March 18th meeting, we ask that you bring a poem with you on the theme of Poetry and Trash, with copies for others if you can.

If you're unable to attend, send us the poem you've selected with a comment on why you chose it. We'll share the poems with you in person, by email, and through our blog.

Whether a poem concerns trash, suggests trash, or is trash, choose a poem that has meaning to you. Then attend the circle or email it to one of us by March 18th, with a brief comment of why you chose it. Can't locate a poem to share? Check out Poetry Foundation or poets.org.

In the meantime, please blog with us at onepagepoetrycircle.wordpress.com.

Spring 2025 Schedule
March 18: Poetry and Trash
April 15: Poetry and Birds
May 20: Poetry and Light

Abigail Burnham Bloom, abigailburnhambloom(at)gmail(dot)com
AnnaLee Wilson, annalee(at)kaeserwilson(dot)com

The One Page Poetry Circle is sponsored by the New York Public Library and is open to all. St. Agnes Branch Library is handicap accessible.

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