Thursday, September 24, 2009

Martha Silano, poet

One of the blogs I've followed since I first got into this whole realm is Martha Silano's Blue Positive. Her blog talks about, among other things, being a poet while also teaching and raising young children. Occasionally, she'll even share a poem of her own, often one she's working on.

But don't let her down to earth approach fool you. Silano is playing in the big league of contemporary American poetry. And as the blog post you may have just clicked on will show you, you don't have to rely on my discernment about that. Her poem "Love" has just been collected in The Best American Poetry 2009. A copy of this book actually rather magically floated into my hands yesterday--well, I work in a bookstore, so maybe not that magically, but it did just suddenly appear without my having to hunt it out--so I quickly turned to the appropriate page.

Some readers might be put off by a title like "Love". All I'll say about that is, don't let it stop you.

Congratulations, Martha.