The Sun in Bemidji, Minnesota by Sean Hill

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend July 17, 2015   The Sun in Bemidji, Minnesota   Sean Hill

The sun isn’t even a pearl today— its light diffused, strained gray by winter haze—this the grayest day so far, so when I enter the Wells Fargo parking lot the last thing I expect is to see the sun in the car next to mine. I watch a woman make out with the sun, and I’m jealous of the sun. Beautiful beyond her desire—wanting the sun so—she almost glows as she tugs sweetness from his whiskers with her teeth, and his drool runs down her chin. I think the sun is a man, but it’s hard to tell in this light. No, it’s a mango, and I’m jealous of her.            Copyright © 2015 by Sean Hill. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “For me there are sometimes these moments in life in which I feel like I’ve walked into a poem. I come to recognize a dramatic situation—a situation in which the doing or acting feels from my perspective not ordinary. And I feel a resonance with what I’m experiencing, and language comes to me to try and help me make something of it. Poetry requires attentiveness. A kind of inadvertent voyeurism or fascination—a type of attentiveness—and the happenstance that engenders some poems are a part of this. And I remember my first mango, which I had years before my first kiss, which I remember too. And it goes without saying that Bemidji, Minnesota, is a very special place.” —Sean Hill   Sean Hill is the author of Dangerous Goods (Milkweed Editions, 2014). He is a visiting professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.   Photo credit: Tia Tidwell Poetry by Hill   Dangerous Goods (Milkweed Editions, 2014) "The sun rears" by Jennifer Bartlett "The Sun Underfoot Among the Sundews" by Amy Clampitt "Page 5 / sun goes on shining" by Harryette Mullen Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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