Chard deNiord
poet and professor; Poet Laureate of Vermont (2015-2019), author of seven collections of poetry and two collections of interviews; Poetry Fellow at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the Allan Collins Scholar in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference; recipient of Pushcart Prize; cofounder of New England College MFA program in poetry
The Gift
In memory of Ruth Stone (June 8th, 1915—November 19th, 2011)
“All I did was write them down wherever I was at the time, hanging laundry, baking bread, driving to Illinois. My name was attached to them on the page but not in my head because the bird I listened to outside my window said I couldn’t complain about the blank in place of my name if I wished to hold both ends of the wire like a wire and continue to sing instead of complain. It was my plight, my thorn, my gift—the one word in three I was permitted to call it by the Muse who took mercy on me as long as I didn’t explain.”
from Interstate by Chard deNiord (University of Pittsburgh Press)