Mark Doty is the author of eight books of poems and four volumes of nonfiction prose. He has received the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and his Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems won the 2008 National Book Award in poetry. In this recording from our 2008 Seminar, Doty reads a selection of work inspired by a visit to Key West in 1997, including a section from his 2007 memoir Dog Years, and the poems “Sea Grape Valentine,” “Watermelon Soda,” and “Catalina Macaw.”
from “Watermelon Soda”
Strange island,
to yield a walking
hot-pink soda can
inhabited by a lucky
Modernist crab,
carrying on his back
a tropic shelter
by Barragan
or Corbusier,
perennially modish
if not quite practical…
From KWLS 2008: New Voices.
This recording is available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights belong to the author. © 2008 Mark Doty. Used with permission from Mark Doty.
julieta diaz says:
Dear Mark,
I’m writing my memoir of early childhood in postwar rural Philippines, so you see I’m in my “mature years” and trying to finish my masters at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
I’d like to tell how your “Firebird” has been such a beautiful and inspirational piece of literature. I keep going to it for all the valuable insights you kindly share. It’s much appreciated. Wishing you all the best. Bless you.