What do you mean you’ve never heard of Peter Balakian, the poet who just won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for poetry? Read a few of his poems here:
Physicians (Agni)
Above school kids in Episcopal jackets
cherubs are singing
to the beautiful fake lapis
of St. John the Divine
and from this side chapel
I see through the blue
to the 6th floor of St. Luke’s
where my father’s heart caved in.
Domestic Lament (Poetry)
Like heavy muslin
there is air around my house.
A goblet half-full
of vinegar on my desk.
Tangerines are spoiled globes
in a bowl.
Home (Ploughshares)
When you’re in the mountains
you feel the desert air.
Waking to fog on a salt marsh
you taste the empty boulevards of July.
