Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania

Published by Penn State University Press 2005

Common Wealth

Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania

Edited by: Marjorie Maddox and Jerry Wemple

In the series Keystone Books

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271031910

Overview
Contents

About this book

Over the years, Pennsylvania has been graced with an abundance of writers whose work draws imaginatively on the state’s history and culture. Common Wealth sings the essence of Pennsylvania through contemporary poetry. Whether Pennsylvania is their point of origin or their destination, the featured poets ultimately find what matters: heritage, pride, work, inventiveness, struggle, faith, beauty, hope.

Keystone poets Marjorie Maddox and Jerry Wemple celebrate Pennsylvania with this wide range of new and veteran poets, including former state poet Samuel Hazo, National Book Award winner Gerald Stern, Pulitzer Prize winners Maxine Kumin, W. S. Merwin, and W. D. Snodgrass, and Reading-born master John Updike. The book’s 103 poets also include such noted authors as Diane Ackerman, Maggie Anderson, Jan Beatty, Robin Becker, Jim Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Gary Fincke, Harry Humes, Julia Kasdorf, Ed Ochester, Jay Parini, Len Roberts, Sonia Sanchez, Betsy Sholl, and Judith Vollmer.

In these pages, poems sketch the landscapes and cultural terrain of the state, delving into the history, traditions, and people of Philadelphia, “Dutch” country, the coal-mining region, the Poconos, and the Lehigh Valley; the Three Rivers region; the Laurel Highlands; and Erie and the Allegheny National Forest. Theirs is a complex narrative cultivated for centuries in coal mines, kitchens, elevated trains, and hometowns, a tale that illuminates the sanctity of the commonplace—the daily chores of a Mennonite housewife, a polka dance in Coaldale, the late shift at a steel factory, the macadam of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. With its panoramic vision of Pennsylvania, its culture, and its thriving literary heritage, Common Wealth is a collection of remembrance for a state that continues to inspire countless contributions to American literature.

Author / Editor information

Maddox Marjorie :

Marjorie Maddox is Director of Creative Writing and Professor of English at Lock Haven University. A resident of central Pennsylvania since 1990, she has published several award-winning poetry collections, including Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (2004), When the Wood Clacks Out Your Name: Baseball Poems (2001), and Perpendicular as I (1994).Wemple Jerry :

Jerry Wemple is Associate Professor of English at Bloomsburg University. He is the author of You Can See It from Here (2000), which won the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award, and The Civil War in Baltimore (2005). He grew up in the Susquehanna Valley.

Reviews

“What the book reveals about the state of poetry is the extent to which poetry can still be direct and informative. Read this book from start to finish and you’ll have a better feel for Pennsylvania than from reading a guidebook or a history. . . . The book has a great index that lets you look up places’ names, so you can see if there’s a poem about somewhere you know.”
—Frank Wilson, Philadelphia Inquirer

“These diverse poems about people and places provide authentic new ways of looking at this tired old state—beauty marks, liver spots and all.”
—Jack Brubaker, Lancaster New Era

“Common Wealth, a radiant collection of poems by 103 poets from or connected in some way to Pennsylvania, celebrates its own sense of place as these poets see it, recall it, or perhaps, even are cursed by it.”
—John Fidler, Reading Eagle (PA)

“Common Wealth is an excellent reminder that one of the best ways to understand a place (besides living there) is to read its literature.”
—Lori D. Kranz, Bloomsbury Review

“It’s a wonderful anthology, more than 200 pages of Pennsylvania poetry, written by our best observers, from John Updike to Diane Ackerman. A wealth, indeed.”
—Dan Morey, Erie Times News

“The writers who penned this collection of poetry have one thing in common: a love for the Keystone state. The poetic themes are as diverse as the landscapes across our beautiful state. From the city of brotherly love, through the Susquehanna Valley, north to Erie and even on our own three rivers, no area of Pennsylvania is left unexplored.”
—Lisa Kellar, Pittsburgh Magazine

“A poem is like a photograph: It’s one bright, revealing snapshot of the subject, amplified and able to be studied and enjoyed over and over. And Common Wealth, a book in which contemporary poets delve into memories about Pennsylvania, is full of them.”
—Noreen Livoti, Central PA Magazine

“Common Wealth sings the essence of Pennsylvania through contemporary poetry. Whether Pennsylvania is their point of origin or their destination, the featured poets ultimately find what matters: heritage, pride, work, inventiveness, struggle, faith, beauty and hope.”
—Susquehanna Life Magazine

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
I. Greetings from the commonwealth!
Pennsylvania Gabriel Welsch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
The Map Kathryn Hellerstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
Coming East from Cleveland to Philadelphia at Harvest Jeanne Murray Walker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
Route 81 David Chin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
Me ’n Bruce Springsteen Take My Baby Off to College Barbara Crooker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
II. Beginnings: philadelphia, “dutch” country, and their environs
Philly Things David Livewell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Colors Jeanne Murray Walker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
Rowers on the Schuylkill Leonard Kress Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
Listening for Bridge Builders David Livewell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
Crazy Mary Rides the El Michele A. Belluomini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
Spiritual Exercise, Kensington, Philadelphia Leonard Kress Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
If You Are Reading This Lynn Levin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Preliminary Sketches: Philadelphia Elizabeth Alexander Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
Our Lady of the Cabbages Deborah Burnham Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
10 pm at a Philadelphia Recreation Center Peter Krok Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
The Star Show Robin Becker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
A Poem for a Black Boy Sonia Sanchez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	30
Chester County Winter Day George Fleck Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Spiritual Morning Robin Becker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
A Hill in Pennsylvania Nathaniel Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
In the Small World Sandra Kohler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Mennonites Julia Kasdorf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
Mennonite Farm Wife Janet Kauffman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
Female Ancestor Ann Hostetler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
Buggy Ride at Sixteen Marjorie Maddox Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
Papaya: Lancaster County Juanita Brunk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Back with the Quakers Betsy Sholl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Before the Silver Cord Is Loosed Helen Mallon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
In Carpenter’s Woods Gerald Stern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
Halfway Maxine Kumin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Potter’s Field, Germantown Robin Hiteshew Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Wallace Stevens House Prayer Heather Thomas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Shillington John Updike Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Route 222: Reading to Kutztown Heather Thomas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
The Idea of the Ordinary Carmine Sarracino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
III. Circling east: mines, mountains, and mills
Ode to Coal Sherry Fairchok Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Coalscape Craig Czury Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
Coal Crackers James Hoch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Burning Mountain W. S. Merwin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Christ Comes to Centralia Barbara Crooker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Centralia (October 31, 1986) Karen Blomain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
This Is Not My Cousin Valerie Fox Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
What They Wanted Us to Bring Back Sherry Fairchok Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
Family Portrait, 1933 Peter Oresick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Working the Face Jay Parini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Coal Train Jay Parini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
The Miner’s Wife Leaves Home Karen Blomain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
So the Coal Was Gone Thomas Kielty Blomain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Showing a Friend My Town Harry Humes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
March 10, 1951 Craig Czury Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Bones & Ashes Helen Ruggieri Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
Photograph Anthony Petrosky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
The Strippings Linda Tomol Pennisi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Cousin, Will You Take My Hand? Jerry Wemple Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Susquehanna: The Projects Ruth Ellen Kocher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
The Field (an Excerpt) Linda Tomol Pennisi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
The Jeweler Peter Oresick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Real Faux Pearls Betsy Sholl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Polka Dancing to Eddie Blazonczyk and His Versatones in Coaldale, Pennsylvania Leonard Kress Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
A Different House Paul Martin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
In Cursive Len Roberts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Spring Peepers, April, Wassergass Len Roberts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Easter Sunday, Seisholtzville Ann E. Michael Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
We Never Leave Jason Moser Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Sprawl Ann E. Michael Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Hawk Falls Dan Maguire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
Climbing the Three Hills in Search of the Best Christmas Tree Len Roberts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
Lehighton David Staudt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Gallivanting Paul Martin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Bombogenesis Karen Blomain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
The Quarry Paul Martin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
J.B. Phones Me at the End of Summer, Asking Where I Find Silence in the Lehigh Valley Steven Myers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
The Poconos Robin Becker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Deer Harry Humes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
IV. Hills and ridges: the Susquehanna valley and central Pennsylvania
Naming Heraclitus Sandra Kohler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
November Textures Karl Patten Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
Cousins Charles J. Rice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
The Agnes Mark Gary Fincke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
Renovo Sandra Kohler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
Freight Julia Kasdorf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
The Little League World Series: First Play Marjorie Maddox Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Going Back Gregory Djanikan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Nocturne: Roller Mills Flea Market Nicole Cooley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Clearfield County Fair Ginny MacKenzie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
The Bloomsburg Fair JoAnne Growney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Racetrack Downriver David Staudt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
Fishing the Little J. Beneath the Methodist Church Harry Humes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
The Company We Keep Ron Mohring Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Worlds End Barbara Crooker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Winter Walks, Perry County Susan Weaver Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
It Isn’t Raining Cynthia Hogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
Pleasure Gap Bruce Bond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Aunt Lena Committed to Bellefonte State Hospital Ginny MacKenzie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
Running through Danville State Hospital Michael Hardin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
Laid Off in July Matthew Perakovich Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Awl Street Jerry Wemple Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
Harrisburg Echoes (Excerpts) Robert Small Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Nights Like This Julia Kasdorf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
Three Mile Island Siren Jack Veasey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
Dream City Barbara DeCesare Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
Twelve Facts about the Immigrants: A Prose Poem Carmine Sarracino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
Acoustic Shadows Bruce Bond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Gettysburg Samuel Hazo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
The Battlefield Museum Guide Speaks Carmine Sarracino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
V. Southwestern Pennsylvania: the three rivers region and the laurel highlands
Lines Written in a Pittsburgh Skyscraper Diane Ackerman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Bells Deirdre O’Connor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
Listening to Jimmy Garrison (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Sonia Sanchez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
The Dancing Gerald Stern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Integration (Kennywood Park, June 1963) Daniel J. Wideman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
My Father Likes Pittsburgh Jeffrey Oaks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
Pittsburgh Poem Jan Beatty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Brick Kristin Kovacic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
My Grandfather’s Cronies Deirdre O’Connor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Steelers! Steelers! Steelers! Ann Hayes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Class A, Salem, the Rookie League Gary Fincke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
Slaving Daniel J. Wideman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Closed Mill Maggie Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
One of Many Bars in Ford City, Pennsylvania Peter Oresick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Spill Judith Vollmer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Listening to Birds after a Mild Winter Judith Vollmer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Audubon’s Nature Preserve, Fox Chapel Sharon F. McDermott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Desire Lynn Emanuel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
Panther Hollow Bridge, Pittsburgh Jim Daniels Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Mysteries of Pittsburgh Toi Derricotte Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
In Her Mind, She’s Already Quit Leslie Anne Mcilroy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Miracle Mile Ed Ochester Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Buddy Picture Charles Clifton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Leaving Pittsburgh Kristin Kovacic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
Gray Maggie Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Imagining the Johnstown Flood Jerry Wemple Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
Flash Flood W. D. Snodgrass Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Altoona E. A. Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Memorial Day, Elderton, Pennsylvania Ed Ochester Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
Home Town W. D. Snodgrass Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Apollo Is a Pink Town JoAnne Growney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Pennsylvania September: The Witnesses Marjorie Maddox Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
Spring: Fayette County, PA Luise van Keuren Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
This Hill Will Get You There Patricia Jabbeh Wesley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
Turning into a Pond Gerald Stern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
VI. North by northwest: the Alleghenies and Erie
Second Coming in Northern Pennsylvania Steven Huff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
When I Looked Next Michael Teig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
After Tithonus and Aurora, Thoughts on a Life of Work David Swerdlow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Bullet Shell Heart Kirk Nesset Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
Jacklighting Antonio Vallone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
White Tent in the Alleghenies David Staudt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
Mountain Night Berwyn Moore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Swimming in Lake Erie: Intermediate Beginners Deborah Burnham Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
The Resurrection of Lake Erie Gerald Costanzo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Confession Off the Lake George Looney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
Yet John Repp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Bus Stop at West 12th Street Sean Thomas Dougherty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
In the Old Neighborhood It Begins in the Urgency of Whoever Is Nameless It Pulls the Night Hard in the Hands Sean Thomas Dougherty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
Driving in Someone Else’s Light Mark S. Borczon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
In a Diner in Franklin, Pennsylvania George Looney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Meditation in Oil City, PA Philip Terman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
The Auctioneer Philip Terman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
Tractor Pull Brad Comann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
If We Were as Brilliant as Groundhogs Philip Terman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
On Gobbler’s Knob Shirley S. Stevens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
The History of Summer Sharon F. McDermott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
The poets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	234
index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 288
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 1
- Images: 6
- Other: 6 illustrations/1 map
Keywords: Commonwealth Marjorie Maddox; Jerry Wemple; Diane Ackerman; Diane Ackerman; Maggie Anderson; Jan Beatty; Robin Becker; Jim Daniels; Toi Derricotte; Gary Fincke; Harry Humes; Julia Kasdorf; Ed Ochester; Jay Parini; Len Roberts Sonia Sanchez; Betsy Sholl; Judith Vollmer; John Updike; Gerald Stern; Samuel Hazo; Poetry Literature; Pennsylvania Keystone books; W. D. Snodgrass

eBook

Published: November 8, 2005
ISBN: 9780271031910