April’s 60th Anniversary issue of The Hudson Review (which I finished–phew–on Sunday!) opened with a terrific article on Poetic Recognition Scenes by Seamus Heaney. (You can read the article here.)
Heaney posits that there are times in an artist’s life when we come across something that resonates with us and with our craft, and that calls us to our truer poem. These numinous encounters include Elizabeth Bishop’s Moose, William Wordsworth’s moment on the trail in "The Leech Gatherer", Heaney’s own poem to the Tollund Man (the ancient townfolk found hung in the Denmark peat). Not epiphany poems. Not muses. But guides nontheless on the trail. Some friends, I think, can call us to our poems. Certainly teachers can. (See Kenneth Koch’s The Art of Poetry for more on this).
David, you’re all that! (and with no numerological associations linking you to The Hudson Review) Wishing you the Happiest of Birthdays—!
-J.F.