the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Poetry inspired by Pennsylvania

Having grown up in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I’ve long been aware of its many wonderful attributes. A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon a book that chronicles some of those poetic inspirations. The book, which I found at the local library, is titled Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (2005, Pennsylvania State University Press).

Edited by Marjorie Maddox of Lockhaven University and Jerry Wemple of Bloomsburg University, Common Wealth offers poetic tributes to Pennsylvania from a variety of writers, some from the Keystone State, and others simply making observations from an outsider’s perspective. One of the many pieces that struck me is Lynn Levin’s “If You Are Reading This,” which is written in a more prosaic form. The first stanza follows:

GIRL WITH DOG IN RAIN! Sweetheart, where are you now? Saw you at 16th and Walnut with your chocolate lab under an awning. It was raining parking lights and car horns. I was the guy double-parked delivering a tray of bagels to a corporate meeting. Nice stuff, 5 flavors, cream cheese with chives, butter daisies. Our eyes met, do you remember? I can’t get you out of my mind. [Box 347] …

With inspirations as diverse as the Commonwealth itself, this volume comprises contributions of authors ranging from Maggie Anderson to John Updike. If you’re a Pennsylvanian who’s curious about some of the poems for which your home state has played the muse, Common Wealth is probably a book you’ll want to check out.

(Who knows, they may even publish another edition someday that includes Autumn’s portrait of what it means to be an Eagles fan.)

great post. The Eagles poem would be an excellent choice. It provides a quick overview of many Philly delights! I bet you could email the editor of the present anthology with the suggestion. Also liked the other poem, especially the line – “raining parking lights and car horns”.

That was the line that really stuck with me too.

And I agree about the Eagles poem (obviously). It’s so quintessential to the experience of being a fan (and reminding us that “fan” is short for “fanatic”)

this books sounds wonderful, howard. i’m going to seek it out. i, too, love the “raining parking lights and car horns”—what a surprising line! i looked at the listing on amazon and recognized many of the poets included, but not enough. there are so many great poets in the philly area alone it certainly warrants another volume.

I love that you picked out that poem. It was featured as the daily poem in Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac in October 2005 and when I read it there, I printed it out and kept a copy, because both the language and the experience it describes resonated with me strongly. I also did a post about it on the Metroblog last February, when we did a Silent Poetry Reading. It’s one of my favorites.

Autumn – maybe you could edit that next volume

Marisa – it figures. Not only did someone else dream up the words first, but Garrison Keillor (a writer I happen to admire) picked up on it before me, too. I’m going to rifle through your metroblog archives to see if that’s where I might have seen it before. It did seem familiar (aside from mere geographical references).