2012 BEST OF THE NET

James H. Duncan has informed me that he's nominating my poem "Birthday Letter" for the 2012 Best of the Net award. Considering how much respect I have for him and his poetry, I am humbled and honored. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. And I published my first poem almost thirty years ago!

So I would like to thank James and Hobo Camp Review for making 2012 a most memorable year for me. If you want to read some awesome poetry and prose from the road - feel free to take a long peek:

http://hobocampreview.blogspot.com

My wish is that 2013 will be a happy and productive year for all. Thanks for reading!


BIRTHDAY LETTER

Fall is almost over.
Last night
(although you condemned it),
I read Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters,
and liked it a lot.
After I'd finished,
the soft rain returned,
gently bringing me back
to the hard place I'd escaped from:
I am mending. I am mending.
Yesterday, a kind
stranger spoke to me in the market,
and I did not turn away.
I'm beginning to see it was you.
The old crushed season is almost over;
I'll no longer mourn its early passing.

Poem © 2012 by Dylan Mitchell