We feel evening as a mood, a time of day, a phase of life. The poem began there and proceeded with what I’d call a “good mistake.” “Evening” and “even” must be forms of the same word, right? Light and darkness “evening out”? Apparently not! Historically, they began with different vowels and only recently converged on the same spelling and the same pronunciation. The poem tries for words and flow as soft and featureless as the fading landscape.
James Richardson on "Any Evening" |
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 | We have a special invitation for you to write for Poetry Daily this April. What poems on Poetry Daily have excited you or inspired your own writing? How have our poems triggered students' enthusiasm and teaching breakthroughs? Maybe our poems have suggested writing prompts that approach the writing of poetry in new ways?
Choose any poem from our archive of more than two thousand poems since 2018 and tell us about it in 100 words or so. We’re not expecting a “professional” answer but one from your heart, nothing is too trivial—for a chance to be featured in our groundbreaking What Sparks Poetry series and win a free book! |
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"Kwame Dawes Starts Term as Poet Laureate of Jamaica"
"Dawes, who is half-Ghanaian and half-Jamaican, was born in Ghana and moved to Jamaica when he was young. He attended college in Jamaica before moving to Canada for graduate school and to the United States for work. Since then, Dawes has remained involved in the arts and literary scenes in Jamaica—where his family continues to reside. 'I am proud of being a Jamaican,' Dawes wrote. 'I consider this an opportunity to serve Jamaica and to promote and celebrate poetry in Jamaica.'"
viaTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Gregory Pardlo on Other Arts
"I had been working on a poem 'about' my mother (who is also named Marion), and I was struggling to find an approach that would discover something worthwhile about one or both of us while honoring the mystery of difference that separates us. What was driving my interest in this poem? Was it love or some attempt to control my mother, however symbolically? I knew I couldn’t write fairly (forget objectively) about this person whose identity was so important to my own." |
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