On Laura Kasischke's "The Emptying of the Censers"

Antony Lyon

January 7, 2018

On Laura Kasischke's "The Emptying of the Censers"

This post is a small thank you to the students who made my “Modern American Poetry” seminar such a wonderful experience.

Laura Kasischke disarms me. I haven’t been able to articulate how or why her poetry does; it just does. This is an initial attempt at figuring it out.

Antony Lyon

July 27, 2015

On Charles Wright's "Crystal Declension"

Antony Lyon

July 27, 2015

I recently picked up Charles Wright’s Caribou when I was at Powell’s in Portland (gosh, I love a good bookstore), and it’s been my traveling companion for the last few weeks. I’m definitely still finding my way in Wright’s verse, and “Crystal Declension” is my first foothold in Caribou. I appreciate Wright’s natural imagery and the way he connects our lifecycles with nature. Caribou is more than simply about birth and death; it’s about the perspective this recognition opens up. This is where “Crystal Declension” fits.

Antony Lyon

April 24, 2015

On Seamus Heaney's "The Settle Bed"

Antony Lyon

April 24, 2015

In the last several years I’ve fallen in love with Seamus Heaney’s verse. As with all poets, only some of his poems connect with me. However, as I spend more time with Heaney, more of his poems make that connection. The one I’m working on or through these days is “The Settle Bed.”