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“Poems keep us conscious of the importance of our individual lives . . . personal witness of a singular life”

Always I have done what was asked.

Melmac dishes stacked on rag towels.

The slack of a vacuum cleaner cord

wound around my hand. Laundry

hung on a line.

There is always much to do and I do it.

The iron resting in its frame, hot

in the shallow pan of summer

as the basins of his hands push

aside the book I am reading.

I do as I am told, hold his penis

like the garden hose, in the bedroom,

in that bathroom, over the toilet

or my bare stomach.

I do the chores, pull weeds out back,

finger stink-bug husks, snail carcasses,

pile dead grass in black bags. At night

his feet are safe on their pads, light

on the wall-to-wall as he takes

the hallway to my room.

His voice, the hiss of lawn sprinklers,

the wet hush of sweat in his hollows,

the mucus still damp

in the corners of my eyes as I wake.

After College

Growing Up

Education

Early life

January 10, 1952

-social elements

-effects

Mills College: 1988

Out of high school...

"What My Father Told Me" Awake

Summer ends. Schoolwork doesn’t suit me.

My fingers unaccustomed to the slimness

of a pen, the delicate touch it takes

to uncoil the mind.

History. A dateline pinned to the wall.

Beneath each president’s face, a quotation.

Pictures of buffalo and wheatfields,

a wagon train circled for the night,

my hand raised to ask a question,

Where did the children sleep?

Works of Poetry Continued

2011

Interesting...

2007

-10 different languages

-fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation

and National Endowment for the Arts

***Awards:

The Paterson Prize for "The Book of Men"

The Roanoke-Chowan Award for "The Book of Men"

Pushcart Prize

The Best American Poetry 1999

The Best American Poetry 2006

The Best American Poetry 2013

Oregon Book Award for Facts about the Moon

2006 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize shortlisted for Facts about the Moon

National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (What We Carry)

Personal Life

Professional Work

MFA

Joseph Millar

Today

Works of Poetry

dorianne laux

"Dust"

What We Carry

2000

Someone spoke to me last night,

told me the truth. Just a few words,

but I recognized it.

I knew I should make myself get up,

write it down, but it was late,

and I was exhausted from working

all day in the garden, moving rocks.

Now, I remember only the flavor —

not like food, sweet or sharp.

More like a fine powder, like dust.

And I wasn’t elated or frightened,

but simply rapt, aware.

That’s how it is sometimes —

God comes to your window,

all bright light and black wings,

and you’re just too tired to open it.

1994

1990

Megan Tighe

Works Cited

"Dorianne Laux." Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/742>.

"Dorianne Laux: "What My Father Told Me"" Dorianne Laux: "What My Father Told Me" N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://www.rimbaud.org.uk/q-laux3.html>.

"Dorianne Laux." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorianne_Laux>.

"Dust." By Dorianne Laux. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/241982>.

Laux, Dorianne. What We Carry: Poems. Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, 1994. Print.

"Official Site of Dorianne Laux." Official Site of Dorianne Laux | Award-winning Poet and Author. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. <http://doriannelaux.com/index.html>.

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