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In this final installment of the 2018 edition of Voices and Verses, we meet poet Robin Reagler. In this sound portrait, she describes what poetry meant to her as a teenager, her writing process, and why poetry is crucial. She reads her poem, "We Holy Thieves."
Robin Reagler is the author of two poetry chapbooks: Teeth & Teeth, which won the Charlotte Mew Prize (Headmistress Press, 2018), and Dear Red Airplane (Seven Kitchens Press, 2011; reissued, 2018). Her poems have been published in dozens of journals, including Ploughshares, American Letters & Commentary, Pleiades, VOLT, The Iowa Review, and Colorado Review. She serves as the Executive Director of Writers in the Schools (WITS) and volunteers on a number of national boards, including the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) and LitNet (The Literary Network).
WE HOLY THIEVES
At night I write to you
Because the moon's fullness
Is a bad accident, and I
Need to travel halfway
Across Texas, driving
In reverse. Our love
Is a screech owl; we
Agree on that
Much. I'm miles past
Livingston, past
Nacogdoches. The darkness
Gasps with the blush
Of sunrise. Nobody
Recognizes what is
So obviously blooming.
The beautiful part is you.
This poem is from Teeth & Teeth by Robin Reagler (Headmistress Press, 2018) and is reprinted with permission of the author.
Music used: Simpson's Gap (excerpt) by Padma Newsome, Show Me (excerpt) by Aoife O'Donovan, Maintenance Music (excerpt) by Dana Lyn, and Tralala (excerpt) by Christina Courtin from Brooklyn Rider: The Brooklyn Rider Almanac
To learn more about this series, go here.
