Poem from the Russian by Jean Valentine

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 29, 2014   Poem from the Russian   Jean Valentine

In a circle of 12 winter trees I’m hunched Remembering being fled from   —Who gave me this wool sweater? So it please you life, we won’t go alone— Next year will be better. Remember that white tree?   The white underpaint of the government. The country of bone.   In memory of Michael Brown            Copyright © 2014 by Jean Valentine. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “These are terrible days in this country. I honor Claudia Rankine and Jacqueline Woodson, everyone who writes deeply about these times, and every act of nonviolence.  I wanted here to remember Michael Brown.” —Jean Valentine   Jean Valentine is the author of Shirt in Heaven, forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press in April of 2015. She lives in New York City.   Photo Credit: Max Greenstreet Most Recent Book by Valentine   Shirt in Heaven (Copper Canyon Press, 2015) "In Our Late Empire, Love" by Malachi Black "The Throats of Guantanamo" by Katie Ford "In a Country" by Larry Levis Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038