[诗歌] Lyrical

alvinwoolf

by Joseph Millar

The spaniel next door yaps at the sparrows,
he yaps at the crows and the mailman,
yaps at the compost pile and the sunflower,
yaps at the rain and the sky. He yaps
at the steps leading down to the creek
where the flax plants bloom high as my waist
and the blue flowers force their way up
through small stones the color of night. He
yaps at the garbage truck's back-up beeper,
iron bell song of the priest and bridegroom,
song of the lone ship, song of the train,
song of the big waves rolling and breaking
over the western reefs. He yaps at the rosebush,
yaps at the fence, song for the sidewalk cracked
in half, the wine bottle resting against the curb,
the neighbor who doesn't come home.

alvinwoolf

JOSEPH MILLAR

JOSEPH MILLAR’s poetry reflects his life as a telephone installer, commercial fisherman and single father. He received a Masters degreein poetry from Johns Hopkins University and is the author of two chapbooks, Slow Dancer and Midlife: (Passionate Lives: Eight Autobiographical Poem Cycles). He received a 2003 National Endowment for the Arts grant and now teaches at Oregon State.

In 1995, his poetry won the Montalvo Biennial Poetry Competition, placed second in the National Writer’s Union Competition judged by Philip Levine, and was selected by Carolyn Forche for honorable mention in the Jacaranda Review Poetry Contest. His poetry has been published in Prairie Schooner, DoubleTake, Manoa, Shenandoah, Ploughshares, Alaska Quarterly Review, New Letters and Many Mountains Moving. His first book, Overtime, was published in 2001 by Eastern Washington University.

Joseph recently gave up his job as a telephone installation foreman to teach and now works for the Oregon Writer’s Workshop, the Oregon State Poetry Association, Mt. Hood Community College and the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics.

He is at work on a full-length manuscript titled Dark Harvest, which was a finalist for the Carnegie Mellon Award and the National Poetry Series for a first book. His seminar, Poetry of The Workplace, will be available through Eastern Washington University’s Summer Writer’s Conference in Tacoma.