Forrest Hamer
Forrest Hamer Poems
It was 1963 or 4, summer,
and my father was driving our family
from Ft. Hood to North Carolina in our 56 Buick.
We'd been hearing about Klan attacks, and we knew
...
This air is flooded with her. I am a boy again, and my mother
and I lie on wet grass, laughing. She startles, turns to
marigolds at my side, saying beautiful, and I can see the red
there is in them.
...
After I stumbled through the gauntlet, after they had hit me
As hard as they could,
Some there only because there was someone else
To be brought in, I joined them
...
To make it back home across town,
we had to learn to walk
only through black neighborhoods.
Think about this as the map
...
It would be unfortunate if the idea of multiple selves
obscured the fact the self is still
responsible for the terror it makes in the mind.
It would be a mistake if the multiple meanings
...
And then we began eating corn starch,
chalk chewed wet into sirup. We pilfered
Argo boxes stored away to stiffen
my white dress shirt, and my cousin
...
And the old men, supervising grown grandsons, nephews,
any man a boy given this chance of making
a new sidewalk outside the apartment building where
some of them live, three old men and their wives,
...
Forrest Hamer Biography
Forrest Hamer is an American poet, psychologist, and psychoanalyst. He is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Rift (Four Way Books, 2007). His first collection, Call & Response, (Alice James Books) won the Beatrice Hawley Award, and his second, Middle Ear (Roundhouse Press), received the Northern California Book Award. He has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the California Arts Council, and he has taught at the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops. His poetry has been anthologized in Poet’s Choice: Poems for Everyday Life, The Geography of Home: California’s Poetry of Place, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, Blues Poems, Word of Mouth: An Anthology of Gay American Poetry, and three editions of The Best American Poetry; and has appeared in many magazines and literary journals including The American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Kenyon Review, Callaloo, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, and ZYZZYVA. He was educated at Yale University and the University of California - Berkeley. He lives in Oakland, California.)
The Best Poem Of Forrest Hamer
Lesson
It was 1963 or 4, summer,
and my father was driving our family
from Ft. Hood to North Carolina in our 56 Buick.
We'd been hearing about Klan attacks, and we knew
Mississippi to be more dangerous than usual.
Dark lay hanging from the trees the way moss did,
and when it moaned light against the windows
that night, my father pulled off the road to sleep.
Noises
that usually woke me from rest afraid of monsters
kept my father awake that night, too,
and I lay in the quiet noticing him listen, learning
that he might not be able always to protect us
from everything and the creatures besides;
perhaps not even from the fury suddenly loud
through my body about his trip from Texas
to settle us home before he would go away
to a place no place in the world
he named Viet Nam. A boy needs a father
with him, I kept thinking, fixed against noise
from the dark.
Forrest Hamer Comments
As an Englishman living in the Canary Islands: a writer and poet, I came across Forrest´s poems on the Internet and was immediately drawn to his style of writing. The poem Origins had a profound impact on me as Forrest touched on the subjects of sexual orientation and race. As I am visiting the UK in August I intend to buy the three books, ¨Rift¨, ¨Middle Ear¨and ¨Call & Response¨. Should Forrest ever write an autobiography then I would be first in the queue. Keep writing Forrest and thank you. Keith Jeffries
Many things in life were told not to do! Life's Magic teaches us to undo!
Hello Forrest. My name is Larry B. Stell; just completed a book of poetry and I have several poems on this website, poemhunter.com, under my name. Your comments in the poem, Lesson, reminded me of a trip I took from a university summer program in Colorado back to Little Rock, Arkansas. The director asked if Jimmy Lieb, a student (African American) could ride with me and my German wife back to Little Rock, about 1965....my wife and I were refused service in a restaurant in Oklahoma but the owner said he had to, by law, serve Jimmy. I think I will use this as a theme in a forthcoming poem.......any ideas? Larry B. Stell, poet/writer
I love how you put words together. Thank you for sharing them.
Forrest Hamer Popularity
Forrest Hamer Popularity
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
4/25/2024 9:52:32 AM # 1.0.0.1119
glad i bumped into ur pages...