Poem of the Week: "From the Maelstrom" by Ned Balbo

The VPR Poem of the Week is Ned Balbo’s “From the Maelstrom,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2006 issue (Volume VII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Ned Balbo’s first book of poetry, Galileo's Banquet, received the Towson University Prize for Literature. A second collection, Lives of the Sleepers, won the Ernest Sandeen Prize in 2005 and was published by the University of Notre Dame Press. Lives of the Sleepers was the ForeWord magazine poetry book of the year, and it also was a finalist for the Arlin G. Meyer Prize. A chapbook of poems, Something Must Happen, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009. Ned Balbo’s poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Antioch Review, Crab Orchard Review, Dogwood, Pleiades, and many other journals. He teaches at Loyola College in Baltimore.

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.