One great poem to read today: Mark Doty’s “Visitation”
This April marks the 30th iteration of National Poetry Month, which was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending one great poem to read every (work) day of the month. We make no claim (except when we do) that these poems are the “best” poems in any category; they are simply poems we love. The only other thing they all have in common is that they are available to read for free online, so you can enjoy them along with us. The internet is still good for some things, after all. Today we recommend:
Mark Doty’s “Visitation”
You’ve probably already read the final lines of Mark Doty’s “Visitation,” even if you don’t know that you know it. It ends: “What did you think, that joy / was some slight thing?”
Anyone with a halfway active social media presence in the last ten or fifteen years has probably come across those lines in an image macro on some platform or other. I’m not here to litigate the impacts of social media on society’s collective reading habits—the verdict has already been rendered, a 5-4 decision with the majority in favor of “mostly bad”—but it’s well worth reading the full poem to at last arrive at those final, simple, thunderous lines. To wit:
A few years back, a good friend of mine started dating someone. Early on in the relationship he sent me a strange, distressed text: the relationship was going too well. He was falling for her too fast and, worse, he was worried that the depth of his feelings at these early stages meant that something was horribly wrong. When pressed he couldn’t actually identify anything that was off, but still he was convinced that being this happy with someone this quickly spelled doom.
Irrational fears can’t be soothed by logic. I sent him a few words of advice and followed it up with the full text of “Visitation”. Had I just sent him the last lines, the ones I wanted him to not just to read but feel, I don’t think it would’ve had the same impact. I’m reading the poem at his wedding next month.
Calvin Kasulke
Calvin Kasulke is the author of the novel Several People Are Typing. His writing and reporting have been published in VICE, MEL Magazine, DC Comics, and elsewhere.
