Poem of the Week: "Glasses" by Dave Smith

The VPR Poem of the Week is Dave Smith’s “Glasses,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Dave Smith is the author of Little Boats, Unsalvaged (Louisiana State University Press, 2005), his 14th collection of poetry, The Wick of Memory, New and Selected Poems, 1970-2000 (Louisiana State University Press, 2000), Onliness (novel, Louisiana State University Press, 1981), Southern Delights (stories, Croissant & Co., Ltd., 1984), and two collections of essays: Local Assays: On Contemporary American Poetry (University of Illinois Press, 1985) and Hunting Men: Reflections on a Life in American Poetry (Louisiana State University Press, 2006).

He has edited The Essential Poe (Ecco, 1991), The William Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets (William Morrow and Co., 1985) and The Pure Clear Word: Essays on the Poetry of James Wright (University of Illinois Press, 1981). Smith has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lyndhurst Fellowship, as well as the Virginia Prize in Poetry and an Award in Poetry from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Dave Smith is the Eliot Coleman Professor of Poetry at Johns Hopkins University.

Tuesday of each week “One Poet’s Notes” highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the issues 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.