Poem About Language - Kirsten | Learn English at EnglishCafe

Kay has spent years teaching ESL and remedial English courses at College of Marin--while avoiding teaching any creative writing classes. She works enough to meet her needs and leave plenty of writing time free. I fell in love with her work with her second book (had to hunt to get the first one) and have been a booster for years. She has one of the most inventive voices around. I am delighted at the attention Poet Luareate brings but she says she won't write much this year which grieves me. Another wonderful poet is Gillian Weggener --she teaches 8th grade English in Modesto and has a book out by Sixteen Rivers (actually most of their books are good)

The poem from The Guardian made me think how much more tolerant we are of Shakespeare's adventures with language. He was not afraid to try new things with language, and of course, his experiments now define correctness. Isn't that odd? I suppose we should only ask for language to be vivid and meaning clear. But I still want my students to know the difference between its and it's etc. Where is the boundary between experimental and creative language and language that is simply incorrect? Perhaps that's for poets to tell us.

Yes, I love Kay Ryan's work. For me she represents something patient...The lonely poet who works at refining her words for years and slowly captures the world's attention

Patience   
by Kay Ryan

Patience is
wider than one
once envisioned,
with ribbons
of rivers
and distant
ranges and
tasks undertaken
and finished
with modest
relish by
natives in their
native dress.
Who would
have guessed
it possible
that waiting
is sustainable—
a place with
its own harvests.
Or that in
time's fullness
the diamonds
of patience
couldn't be
distinguished
from the genuine
in brilliance
or hardness.

I also thought this was funny. Do you know Kay ryan's work? She is a Marin poet and new poet laureate. She often takes cliches and turns them inside-out in her poems.