Poetry Friday: In Which I Manage to Talk about Anne Porter, Woodward and Bernstein, Jen Fulwiler, and Gracious Husbands Who Care About Poetry

Jen Fulwiler is on my mind at the moment because I'll be on her radio show later today (details here), and poetry's on my mind because it's Friday and I'm breathing.

As I sat here, mulling over what to do for Poetry Friday, I remembered a post from a few years ago in which poetry and Fulwiler-y things came together on this blog, so I decided to rerun that post. It's mostly about the inimitable Anne Porter, a poet I love dearly, but it's also about not being able to talk without quoting movies, and about husbands who send their wives (and others) all the best links.

So, without further ado, a peek back at a panoply of poetic stuff (and be sure to click through and read some of Porter's poetry):

(from February 11, 2011)

Sometimes, Atticus and I talk in movie lines. You know what I mean -- the stuff that becomes part of your family lexicon.

One of our lines is from All the President's Men. Bernstein goes to see Jane Alexander (I can't remember her character's name) to pry some information out of her. She won't talk, but he leads her to confirm things they already know, such as some initials (but not full names).  The thing is, they don't actually know all of the names on that first visit, but she did confirm that one of the names starts with a P.  Later, they go back and because Porter was on their list of suspects, when one of them says, "Who is P?" the other says, "P we know is Porter," and then when she admits Porter received money, they've got what they want. The scene ends with Jane Alexander saying, "Who told you about Porter?"

None of that has anything to do with today's post, other than the fact that I like to imitate Jane Alexander and when I want to sound confused, I say, "Who told you about Porter?"

There is one thing that the story has in common with today's post, and it's the "P" connection. Today it's not about political crimes but about poetry. And Anne Porter.

The other day, I heard from Jennifer Fulwiler's husband.  You know the wonderful Jennifer of Conversion Diary*, don't you? I feel a kinship with her because we both know what it's like to be an atheist who gets gobsmacked by Catholicism. But that's probably where the comparisons end because, of course, Jennifer is much taller, hipper, smarter and funnier than I am. Anyway, "F" wrote to me (F we know is Fulwiler) because Blogger was not allowing him to leave a comment on my last Anne Porter post (and if it does that to you, will you let me know? I may compile a list of grievances) and he wanted to share this link:

A 95-Year-Old Poet Finds Her Muse and Literary Praise

He rightly clued me in to the fact that no list of Anne Porter links is complete without this article, and I now agree with him. Visit the link to see the article that initially spread the news about the amazing Anne, and read more snippets of her poetry there.

So, the answer to, "Who told you about Porter?" is:

Atticus
and
The Writer's Almanac
and
Janice Harayda
and
The Poetry Foundation
and
Archives of American Art 
and
Amazon
and
The Gracious Mr. Fulwiler

Thanks to all of the above, and -- sorry, Woodstein ... you got scooped on this one.

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Back to 2016: The Poetry Friday round up is at The Logonauts. 

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*Now JenniferFulwiler.com