David Mason (born 1954) of Colorado Springs, Colo., will become the seventh poet laureate of Colorado. He will be appointed to the post at the State Capitol in Denver on July 1.
Mason is a professor at Colorado College and co-directs the Creative Writing program. He has published six books including News from the Village by Red Hen Press in 2010; Ludlow by Red Hen Press in 2010; Arrivals by Story Line Press in 2004; The Poetry of Life and the Life of Poetry by Story Line Press in 2000; The Country I Remember by Story Line Press in 1996; and The Buried Houses by Story Line Press in 1991.
Colorado was the second state in the nation to appoint a poet laureate. Alice Polk Hill was appointed in 1919 and served until she died in 1921. Nellie Burget Miller served 1923-1952; Margaret Clyde Robertson served 1952-1954; Milford E. Shields served 1954-1975; and Thomas Hornsby Ferril served 1979-1988. Mary Crow has served 14 years, from 1996-2010.
Fathers and Sons
Some things, they say,
one should not write about. I tried
to help my father comprehend
the toilet, how one needs
to undo one’s belt, to slide
one’s trousers down and sit,
but he stubbornly stood
and would not bend his knees.
I tried again
to bend him toward the seat,
and then I laughed
at the absurdity. Fathers and sons.
How he had wiped my bottom
half a century ago, and how
I would repay the favor
if he would only sit.
Don’t you–
he gripped me, trembling, searching for my eyes.
Don’t you–but the word
was lost to him. Somewhere
a man of dignity would not be laughed at.
He could not see
it was the crazy dance
that made me laugh,
trying to make him sit
when he wanted to stand.
………………………………
David Mason
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