The VPR Poem of the Week is James Rioux’s “Possum,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2005 issue (Volume VI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.James Rioux has had poems published in various literary journals, including Five Points, North American Review, and Prairie Schooner. “Possum” is part of a collection of faux-sonnets, Fistfuls of the Invisible, published by Penhallow Press of Franklin Pierce College.
Tuesday of each week “One Poet’s Notes” highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review, except when other posts with news or updates preempt the usual appearance of this item, 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.
5 comments:
Starts strong. Diamond as a verb is wild.
And unspooling as a noun. Wow. This one really got me. A part of me always feels bad for roadkill, even knowing that there isn't much I can personally do one way or the other.
Like I said. Wow. This is the kind of poem that, if it were a first impression, would definitely get me to buy a journal, or at least flip through it.
Hey, Keith, we see poems about feeling bad for roadkill (Driving through the night for example), but what about the flip side? I once was attached by a bear that came at my car, another time a moose came out of the brush and rushed my car! Where are the "Holy smokes--I wish I had a bigger car so I could run over these hippos" poems?
John, that's a very good point. I think, actually, that I might feel a little less for the possum if I was ever locked alone in a room with one. Their teeth are fully capable of diamonding my arm as well as anything else, right?
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