A Flower Whose Name I Do Not Know

David Romtvedt

The third collection from Wyoming poet David Romtvedt focuses on the myth of separateness, both geographic and political. He brings to his writing the insight of many years’ work in the peace movement—insight gained from time in the Peace Corps in Zaire, conscientious objection to the draft in the Vietnam era, subsequent work with Poets for Peace, and efforts in opposition to the Trident nuclear submarine base on Puget Sound. His profound commitment results in a poetics of compassionate witness reflecting a lifelong engagement with intellectual and environmental studies and ethnomusicology. Selected by John Haines for the National Poetry Series.

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ISBN: 9781556590467

Format: Paperback

Glendive, Montana, the Old Bridge

The things that endure are those we neglect,
so I am thankful
when no one cares for what I love.

The Lord is a woman.
None of us has a right to speak
of the secret places of his body.

Prayer is God’s voice whispered to itself—
the flight of the alone to the alone.
God is some foreign language for “I am.”

No one need believe anything.
Each life is a trip through Paradise.
It’s a tough trip.

The water in the river is low and fast.
Along the shore a teen-aged boy
plays the saxophone for a teen-aged girl.

Soon the snow in the mountains will melt
and the river will swell.
It will become a flood.

The faraway cities are leaden
with bad air and despair
and money.

In the distance behind a butte
I cannot see, cattle are bawling.
The wind blows their voices to me.

Strange streets and unfamiliar roads,
planets I have not yet seen.
I wave and the bridge begins to sway.

About the Author

After working in the Artist in Schools programs of Alaska, Washington, and Montana and doing a variety of jobs from truck driving to blueberry picking, David Romtvedt taught for many years in the University of Wyoming MFA program.  He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, two Wyoming Arts Council fellowships, the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award, the National Poetry Series award, and the Pushcart Prize. He served for seven years as the Poet Laureate of Wyoming. …

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Reviews

“He is Everyman (and woman): his poems make it easy to recognize our common stake in world affairs.” —Library Journal

“Romtvedt is known as a poet who believes words have real power.” —Booklist

“His book burns with… passion, but it burns coolly, evenly, the kind of passion that lasts.” —Poetry Flash

“David Romtvedt is a fine poet and an honest man. A sensibility that can include impressions from Africa, from the USSR, from Central American, and from the American West, and do so in such a way that they become part of a convincing personal theme, is uncommon, but it seems to me that Romtvedt has been able to do this. I have learned much from reading these poems, and have found additional satisfaction in listening to a voice from a part of our continent not often heard from.” —John Haines