In Our Name: Poems

By Curt G. Curtin

Embark on a perilous journey through this raw collection of poetry that explores violence, human suffering and the predatory forces of nature. Each poem confronts the reader with an example from history or the writer's own experience, daring the reader to rationalize these as the will of a good and just god. The poems sadly ring as true today as

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atticus Publishing
• Release date: Apr 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9798892281089

Curt G. Curtin

Curt Curtin is a lifelong poet with five previous full-length poetry collections, three chapbooks, and many individual poems published in anthologies and journals. He has twice been nominated for a Pulitzer prize. In 2010 Curt received the first Frank O'Hara Poetry award from the Worcester County Poetry Association, and in 2019 he won second place in the annual contest of the Connecticut Poetry Society. In 2023 he won grants from both the Worcester Arts Council and the Mass Cultural Council to support his work. Curt taught college English and creative writing for 20 years at Westfield State College, MA, following several years teaching younger students. He has been a featured reader in many poetry venues in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and twice in Ireland. More about his poetry can be found at www.curtcurtinpoet.com.

Book preview

1.jpg

Poems

Curt G. Curtin

Copyright © 2024 by Curt G. Curtin.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without a prior written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by the copyright law.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024906127

ISBN:   979-8-89228-107-2   (Paperback)

ISBN:   979-8-89228-108-9   (eBook)

Book Ordering Information:

Atticus Publishing

548 Market St PMB 70756

San Francisco, CA 94104

[phone]

[e-mail]

www.atticuspublishing.com

Atticus.jpg

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to the Refugees from war:

Cambodia, Laos, Rwanda, Uganda,

Congo, Kosovo, Sudan, Iraq, Ukraine, Gaza…

wherever on earth the innocents are made victims

of arrogance, equivocation and ignorance of war.

Acknowledgements

The following poems in this collection have been published previously:

Girl of Darfur, Second Prize, Connecticut Poetry Society, 2019, published in The Connecticut Review, 2020.

After Auden’s Musée des Beaux Arts, First Prize, Frank O’Hara Award, Worcester County Poetry Association, 2010; published in The Worcester Review, Vol. XXXI, 1-2, 2010. Also received the editor’s 2010 nomination for a Pushcart Prize, and reprinted in For Art’s Sake, Kelsay Books, 2019. Man Achieves Flight, was also published in For Art’s Sake.

Item and Kwan Yin’s Eyes published in The Other Side of Sorrow: Poets Speak Out About Conflict, War, and Peace, Poetry Society of New Hampshire, 2006; the collection won the 2007 Independent Publisher’s Book Award, Bronze Prize.

The Voice of a Slave, published in Diner, 2006.

Several of the poems have previously appeared in chapbooks produced by the author: Elusive Music (2005) and Embers Carried Across the River in a Gourd (2015)

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Dreams From Eden

Father and Sons

The Lash Arrives

Others

Beholders

Wiring

Breeding

Basic Training

Street Scene

White Boy, 1950

Dreams

Fear

Power

Control

Flight

Man Achieves Flight

Serbian Nurses, 1999

The Bamiyan Buddha

The Afghan Women

One year after 9/11

The City on the Hill

The Holy Land

Wonder of Blinded Eyes in Gaza

The Voice of a Slave

Color

Kwan Yin’s Eyes

Mockingbird

Item

Girl Betrayed

Girl of Darfur

Mother

Heart of Darkness

No Wonder We Call It Hunger

Ich und Du

Morning Songs

Hiding in a Lavatory Stall

July 4th In The