From the Poetry Foundation website: “An enduring presence in American poetry, Maxine Kumin’s career  spanned over half a century. She was the recipient of prestigious awards such as the Pulitzer Prize, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and an  American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award. She was the  poetry consultant for the Library of Congress in 1981-1982, and taught  at many of the country’s most prestigious universities, including MIT,  Princeton, and Columbia.”

Poet Maxine Kumin

 

 
Poet B.Z. Niditch has written a poem for the late, great poet:

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MAXINE KUMIN’S LAST JOURNEY

Now buried beneath
New England’s sands
your voice remains
as you were brought back
to us after your accident
as any equestrian,
you overwhelmed us
by your multiplied words
harboring new strength
covered by poem’s’safety
where you again shined
with your chosen path
to respect an environment
for nature and animals,
Maxine,
we knew you would be back
romping greensward earth
on Cambridge Common
or out at your farm
you will turn up,Maxine
on hills or green mountains
with all living things
in anthologies of enlightenment.

– B.Z. Niditch

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