{"id":28394,"date":"2016-08-14T07:44:46","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T11:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=28394"},"modified":"2016-08-14T07:44:46","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T11:44:46","slug":"apologies-to-the-poet-maxine-kumin-in-memoriam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/apologies-to-the-poet-maxine-kumin-in-memoriam\/","title":{"rendered":"Apologies (to the poet Maxine Kumin, in Memoriam)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apologies (to the poet Maxine Kumin, in Memoriam)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I must have been a handful.<\/p>\n

20 year olds want to see, hear<\/p>\n

and taste.<\/p>\n

20 year old poets think they know<\/p>\n

all.<\/p>\n

So much new libido to expend.<\/p>\n

So much anger to quiet.<\/p>\n

And all the time you<\/p>\n

were trying to keep her,<\/p>\n

your best friend,<\/p>\n

from hurting herself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anne Sexton\u2019s signature<\/p>\n

went from firm and clear<\/p>\n

to a three-letter jagged block.<\/p>\n

I saw it at BU. Frightening.<\/p>\n

If a signature tells a story,<\/p>\n

hers showed volumes.<\/p>\n

I hope guilt didn\u2019t sear you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there I was,<\/p>\n

wanting to devour half the world<\/p>\n

and sleep with the other half.<\/p>\n

No wonder you retreated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sadness, confusion.<\/p>\n

I am sorry.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know,<\/p>\n

although your favorite did.<\/p>\n

Perhaps if I had been blond, blue-eyed<\/p>\n

and Mayflower-related\u2026<\/p>\n

but no.<\/p>\n

I never practiced sedate.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t in my genes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nor demure, nor reverent.<\/p>\n

And you would not explain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am sorry, Maxine.<\/p>\n

I guess misunderstandings were fated.<\/p>\n

I just hope<\/p>\n

that somewhere,<\/p>\n

your piano in the corner<\/p>\n

is playing<\/p>\n

and the cat on your window<\/p>\n

is sunning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I still have no patience for either.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apologies (to the poet Maxine Kumin, in Memoriam)   I must have been a handful. 20 year olds want to see, hear and taste. 20 year old poets think they know all. So much new libido to expend. So much anger to quiet. And all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":718,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/718"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28413,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28394\/revisions\/28413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}