Friday Poem

Poetry
Art & Environment
Edward Hessler

Image from Amazon.com

First, the poetry news. An old English poetry book has been granted the UNESCO Memory of the World Status. What an evocative name and what a wonderful idea. I didn't know about this designation.The book is known as The Exeter Book. The BBC has an illustrated story about it and the Poetry Foundation's blog devoted to poetry, Harriet, also discusses it.

UNESCO maintains a Memory of the World Register which includes a full listing, access by region/country, by year and by organization. Take a look.

Today's poem is by Jennifer Michael Hecht, the author of Doubt: A History:  The Great Doubters and their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson. Hecht holds a Ph.D. in the history of science/European cultural history from Columbia University. She teaches at the New School, New York City.

Eva Rinaldi
[CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

The poem, Rapture, starts with these lines.

"The two-tone girl, mouth wide open, head-back/ squinting blind at the rock-stars on the stage. Screaming"