Contributions
- Three Poems by Wendell Hawken
Read three poems by poet Wendell Hawken, our third biweekly poet of the Winter 2025 issue, along with a few words about the poem “First Hurt”.
About the Contributor
Wendell Hawken (she/her) earned her MFA from Warren Wilson College’s Program for Writers. Publications include four chapbooks and five full collections. Hawken was named the inaugural Poet Laureate of Millwood VA, an unincorporated quirky village in the northern Shenandoah Valley where she lives.
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Books
After Ward
Publisher: FutureCycle Press
Publication Date: August 1, 2017
Format: Paperback
The powerful poems of Wendell Hawken’s After Ward bring the reader into a world where each day, each movement forward, is a journey.
White Bird: A Sequence
Publisher: FutureCycle Press
Publication Date: August 1, 2017
Format: Paperback
Heart-breaking and life-affirming, Wendell Hawken’s White Bird testifies to the human spirit. This poem sequence, told from the caregiver’s perspective, chronicles a beloved’s cancer from diagnosis to death. The speaker’s farm shifts from background to foreground with its daily chores and animal population, both domestic and wild. With an eye for the transformative in the everyday, Hawken is a poet in command of her craft. Her language is restrained, yet lyrical, as these poems remain accessible with a clear narrative focus reminiscent of Frost. Her images are original: “Wasps have taken to the wren house/hanging from the porch eave/visible from the bed set up in the library.” Certain repetitions, such as hawk cries, grow in import as they recur. Her tone never slips into the maudlin and her vision does not blink as events unfold. This remarkable collection will help any primary caregiver feel less alone.
The Luck of Being
Publisher: The Backwaters Press
Publication Date: July 31, 2008
Format: Paperback
First book by a ranch poet who finds deep significances in the day-to-day exigencies of country life.
Contributor Q & A
Can you tell our readers a little about your writing life?
Now in the giving-back phase of life with non-profit work, I was able to house two Afghan families who escaped the Taliban, for instance, and help them successfully assimilate here. I helped found the Barns of Rose Hill, a community arts and culture organization, started a food pantry and other food-related efforts, and right now, I work with Ability Fitness Center, a special-needs gym in Leesburg VA where folks with physical and/or neurological conditions receive therapeutic exercise. My son's accident had the unintended consequence of helping many others. The gym has become quite a community resource for our often overlooked neighbors.
How long have you been a writer and how did you get started?
My hysterectomy got me into poetry. So much bleeding and discomfort, I felt thrilled to have the surgery. However, as I rested afterward, a mourning bubbled up and I wrote an ode to my uterus. The feeling was so powerful, I knew I had to investigate. And poetry has gotten me through the difficult moments by giving me a way of processing. Like my husband's cancer and my son's accident.
What do you think are your literary strengths and accomplishments?
As poet laureate of Millwood, VA and with my writing in general, I work to make poetry and poems accessible to the wider community. My strong narrative thrust helps.
What do you look for in a book? Who are your favorite writers?
I know it when I read it. My reading focus is on poetry and prose fiction.
Catherine Barnett's recent poetry collection Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space, (Graywolf) for instance. A collection I pick up with the intention of reading a poem or two and find myself drawn into a galloping first read.
As I consider every word in my own work, I cannot find any pleasure with flabby self-indulgent writing in love with itself. As in, (I hate to say this) Niall Williams novel, Time of the Child. So disappointed after his wonderful This is Happiness.
Contents
Book Excerpt: The Prize of Québec by Jennifer Nelson
“I tend to lean into the transconstitutory powers of ekphrasis. … Only in poetry can one go to the moon in a way that critiques the quest for the moon.” Read a poem from Jennifer Nelson’s new collection from Fence Books, On the Way to the Paintings of Forest Robberies.
Chapbook Poem: This Is How They Teach Us How to Want It . . . by Shanta Lee
“This poem explores the levels of our participation in handing ourselves over, often to the people, places, or things that deserve no such delight.” Read a #poem from Shanta Lee’s new book from Harbor Editions, This Is How They Teach Us How to Want It . . . The Slaughter.