Jeff Friedman: "Two Salesmen (Sunday Night, Fall 1961)"

The VPR Poem of the Week is Jeff Friedman’s “Two Salesmen (Sunday Night, Fall 1961),” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2003 issue (Volume IV, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Jeff Friedman’s latest collection of poetry is Black Threads (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2007), which was reviewed by Celia Bland in the Fall/Winter 2007-2008 issue (Volume IX, Number 1) of VPR. His previous book of poetry, Taking Down the Angel (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2003), was reviewed by William Doreski in the Spring/Summer 2004 issue (Volume V, Number 2) of VPR. Other poetry books by Friedman include Scattering the Ashes (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1998), and The Record-Breaking Heat Wave (BkMk Press — University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1986). Friedman’s work also has appeared widely in literary magazines such as American Poetry Review, Antioch Review, Manoa, New England Review, New Republic, Pleiades, and Poetry.

Tuesday of each week “One Poet’s Notes” highlights an exceptional work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review with the recommendation that readers revisit it. 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.