John Ruff: "'JULY, 1935-1943' (from a painting by Charles Burchfield)"

The Poem of the Week is John Ruff’s “‘July, 1935-1943’ (from a painting by Charles Burchfield),” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 1999-2000 issue (Volume I, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

John Ruff is the poetry editor of The Cresset journal. His work has appeared in a variety of literary magazines, including Poetry Northwest, River City, Seattle Review, Seneca Review, and Xavier Review. “‘July, 1935-1943’ (From a Painting by Charles Burchfield)” was also published in an anthology of poems and paintings, titled A Poetic Vision: Poets’ Responses to the Artwork of Charles Burchfield, released by the Brauer Museum of Art in association with its exhibition of Burchfield’s lifetime of works. John Ruff teaches in the English department at Valparaiso University, and he serves as director of the university general education CORE program.

Tuesday of each week “One Poet’s Notes” highlights work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review. Please check the sidebar to view the list of poets and works that have been past “Poem of the Week” selections. Additionally, readers are reminded that VPR pages are best read with the browser font preference in which they were set, 12 pt. Times New Roman, in order to guarantee the stanza alignment and the breaks of longer lines are preserved.