At one point, I was a bit concerned about the blog vote in this week's Daily Poem Project, because there had been only 9 votes, and 6 poems had received votes, with no poem getting more than two.
By now there have been 17 votes, and all 7 poems have received votes (only the second time in nine weeks that no poem has been shut out). The winner is 33rd & Kirkham, by C. Dale Young, with 4 votes, with two poems tied for second with 3 votes: A Stone Should Mark the Place, by Regan Good and Dialing While Intoxicated, by John Hennessy.
The class vote was also very close, with Young and Hennessy tying for first with four votes each, and The Well at the Broch of Gurness, by Kathleen Jamie receiving 3 votes (out of 14 votes cast).
Although I am a devoted admirer of C. Dale Young, I was a bit disappointed by Poetry Daily's choice of "33rd & Kirkham" to represent his new book The Second Person. I would have gone for "Proximity" or "Prognosis" instead; the latter, especially, would have easily received my vote. (Buy Young's briliant book to check it out.)
As it is, I chose between Jamie and Hennessy, and I went for Hennessy, because of the simultaneous economy and excess of the poem's language.
The comments to the blog included the following:
Donald Brown said...
1. Christian Wiman, "The River"
2. Tom Sleigh, "Blueprint"
3. Jessica Fisher, "The Promise of Nostos"
4. Allen Grossman, "A Gust of Wind"
5. Laure-Anne Bosselaar, "Friends"
6. Robin Ekiss, "Vanitas Mundi"
7. Maurice Manning, "Where Sadness Comes From"
8. Reginald Shepherd, "Eve's Awakening"
9. C. Dale Young, "33rd & Kirkham"
Week 12 will be from June 11 to June 17; I will post a call for votes for the above list of finalists (plus the three remaining winners) on June 24, with at least a week to allow people to choose among them.
For comparison, here are the winners of the first nine weeks of voting by the class (poems that tied for first are given letters along with the week numbers):
1. Derek Walcott, "The Castaway"
2a. C. D. Wright, "Dear night dear shade dear executioner"
2b. Elizabeth Bradfield, "Industry"
2c. Paul Zimmer, "Suck It Up"
3. Josephine Dickinson, "The Bargain"
4a. Mike Dockins, "Poem of Low Latitudes"
4b. Janice N. Harrington, "Shaking the Grass"
5. Laure-Anne Bosselaar, "Friends"
6. Kevin McFadden, "The Ides of Amer-I-Can"
7. Maurice Manning, "Where Sadness Comes From"
8. Reginald Shepherd, "Eve's Awakening"
9a. C. Dale Young, "33rd & Kirkham"
9b. John Hennessy, "Dialing While Intoxicated"
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I can't be dismissive like last week. This is all good stuff. All that careful, even, finely tuned verse that poetry in our time is best at. Which is a way of saying I'm not bowled over by great lyrical moments. The best for that is perhaps #60 by Regan Good, but lifting from Shakespeare (Lady M to her hubby: 'what's done cannot be undone") is a little suspect, to me. "The natural law is wearing winter's face" appeals to me though, and the poem is spooky. It's also suggestive where others are too deliberate, so it almost got my vote. Of the others: #57 Baker, my initial impression is that it's too long and doesn't fully orchestrate all its parts, so that I'm not convinced by all of it. Don't like the Keats part much, for instance. #59, Rose indicates to me the limits of the Poetry Daily enterprise: it's so concentrated I want to read it on paper. It seems unsuited to online poetry, for me. A very good narrative poem. #61, Hennessey, fun, but he's Irish and so of course his diction is interesting, but the subject matter doesn't seem all that striking; #62, Young, very nice, elegant, but seems already too familiar. My vote goes to #58, "The Well at the Broch of Gurness" by Kathleen Jamie which is evocative and elusive and lyrical in a way that appeals to me, mostly.
Here's my ranked list (my favorite is at the top):
60. A Stone Should Mark the Place, by Regan Good
57. Posthumous Man, by David Baker
62. 33rd & Kirkham, by C. Dale Young
59. Ablution, by Rachel Rose
63. This Morning, by Sarah Sawyer
61. Dialing While Intoxicated, by John Hennessy
58. The Well at the Broch of Gurness, by Kathleen Jamie
I thought this was a particularly good week. Couple of strong contenders here, but without wavering I vote for Regan Good. cheers
My vote goes to C. Dale Young. "33rd & Kirkham" is, I suppose, an Alba poem. Alba is the dawn which unfaithful lovers dread. But the lovers in Young's poem are not necessarily unfaithful; they may simply not find room for the love, except at night, and in poetry itself.
Top 3 are in an almost dead heat (to my ear).
#1: 33rd & Kirkham .... by C. Dale Young
#2: Ablution .... by Rachel Rose
#3: A Stone Should Mark the Place
.... by Regan Good
Next 2 are also almost-a-tie.
#4: The Well at the Broch of Gurness
.... by Kathleen Jamie
#5: Dialing While Intoxicated
.... by John Hennessy
Last 2 "lost" me in one or more ways.
#6: This Morning .... by Sarah Sawyer
#7: Posthumous Man .... by David Baker