"On Finding Bloodstains in My Notebook After a Bad Party"
Click the arrow on the audio player to hear Robert Pinsky read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes.
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The bloodstains on this page
are islands made asleep
by strangers. Not of my knife
or knowing, they appear
as Thule did to mariners
lost in the monstered maps
of medieval cartography.
So, however here, be here,
as proof or fiction that
a secret brother dreams
while I'm awake
and wakes up while I sleep,
as mapper, sea-self, twin,
who navigates a course for me
from here to the Bloodlust Isles
so I can wake up as a liar,
not knowing where I've been.
……………..........…….—Alan Dugan (1923-2003)
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Published by permission of the Judith Shahn estate.
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Alan Dugan (1923-2003) won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. His final collection was Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry.
For Slate's poetry submission guidelines, click spacerhereyeshyperlinkPoetry SubmissionsSlate reads new poems from Oct. 1 to April 30. Manuscripts sent between May 1 and Sept. 30 will not be considered.To submit poems: Send, as a single attached document, up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each to editors@slatepoems.com. Use the poet's name for the subject line of the e-mail and for the title of the attachment. We prefer Word documents (.doc or .docx) to PDFs.Please include a brief, professional cover letter, including publication history, in the body of your email. Please limit submissions to one per poet per annual reading period. Simultaneous submissions are OK. Slate no longer accepts poetry submissions by mail. The email address editors@slatepoems.com is for poetry submissions only (or to notify editors of acceptance elsewhere of a poem under consideration at Slate). Other inquiries, etc., will not be addressed.10000false220061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM63271989937000000020061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM632719899370000000.Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.Click here for an archive of discussions about poems with Robert Pinsky in "the Fray," Slate's reader forum.