The more I read of Stephen Dunn’s poetry, the more I love, and gain.

I think I most love his pragmatism, his way of saying things as they are, unembellished, direct and authentic.

From his poem Sadness (Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times, Neil Astley (ed), Northumberland: Bloodaxe Books, 2005, p.120):

‘I told my friend who courted it

not to suffer

on purpose, not to fall in love

with sadness

because it would be naturally theirs

without assistance’

 

Honest, and true, and encapsulates it all, with the merest of words…

CQ