Mark Irwin

(1950 / Toronto)

poet Mark Irwin

Biography of Mark Irwin

Mark Irwin poet

Mark Irwin is the author of six collections of poetry, two volumes of translation, and a recently completed book of essays on contemporary American poetry entitled “Monster.” His most recent book is American Urn: New & Selected Poems (1987–2011). He lives in Colorado.

Mark Irwin Poems

  • My Father's Hats
    Sunday mornings I would reach high into his dark closet while standing on a chair and tiptoeing reach higher, touching, sometimes fumbling
  • Portraits
    Mother came to visit today. We hadn't seen each other in years. Why didn't you call? I asked. Your windows are filthy, she said. I know,
  • Poem Beginning with a Line by Milosz
    "The most beautiful bodies are like transparent glass." They are bodies of the selfless or of those newly dead. What appears transparent is really flame burning so brightly it appears like glass. What
  • Landscape with Horse Named Popcorn
    The hummingbird hovers over bougainvillea, darting in and out of blossoms as the bride throws her corset among laughter and waving hands. Seeing you, glass in hand, sunlight
  • Empire
    He wore a little spiraled hat and wrote a song that everyone sang. He lived on the mountainside above a lake with a mythical beast he'd subdued.
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Portraits

Mother came to visit today. We
hadn't seen each other in years. Why didn't
you call? I asked. Your windows are filthy, she said. I know,
I know. It's from the dust and rain. She stood outside.
I stood in, and we cleaned each one that way, staring into each other's eyes,
rubbing the white towel over our faces, rubbing
away hours, years. This is what it was like
when you were inside me, she said. What? I asked,
though I understood. Afterwards, indoors, she smelled like snow

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