What’s Pete Bock Reading?
I’ve got big ears. And I love to hear what people are fixing to say. For these reasons, I keep C.D. Wright’s books nearby—to reread sections for pleasure, to lean on others in times of doubt.
I stumbled upon the late American poet when I bought William Carlos Williams’ Spring and All (New Directions, 2011 edition). Ms. Wright wrote the introduction. The flow and clarity of her essay sent me off researching. Her honours included a MacArthur Fellow, a Lannan Literary Award and a Griffin Poetry Prize.
Critic Stephanie Burt recommended Steal Away (selected and new poems, Copper Canyon Press 2002) as a good entry point to her poetry. That’s where I started and I seem to keep diving further and further into her poems and essays.
C.D. Wright was also an editor and a university professor. What I love most about this self-described unsmiling dark blond is that she set out exploring; then she returned to share surprising images that engage the imagination. I like her sharp-edged words, her sense of humour—whether she’s telling me about coupling with her husband on the landing before work or keeping a trowel in her handbag.
Here are a few lines from her poem “Our Dust”: I dug up protected and private things./That sort, I was./My graves went undecorated and my churches/abandoned. This wasn’t planned, but practice.
Here are lines from Girlhood, a segment from her poem “The Ozark Odes”: Mother had one. She and Bernice racing for the river/to play with their paperdolls/because they did not want any big ears/to hear what their paperdolls were fixing to say.
Both of these poems can be found in Steal Away.
Pete Bock’s work has appeared in The Malahat Review, CV2 and Arc Poetry. He lives in eastern Ontario—in traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee Peoples, specifically the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk).