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Tony Hoagland

Anthony Hoagland was born on November 19, 1953, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the child of an Army surgeon whose job required the family to move frequently; they would live in Hawaii, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana and

Note to Reality

by Tony Hoagland (1953–2018)

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2<author>
3  <person id="18997" sex="1" role="author">
4    <name>
5      <firstname>Tony</firstname>
6      <lastname>Hoagland</lastname>
7    </name>
8    <life-events>
9      <date ty="birth" circa="false" suffix="ad">1953</date>
10      <text-value>(1953–2018)</text-value>
11    </life-events>
12    <biography>y</biography>
13  </person>
14</author>
15

Without even knowing it, I have

believed in you for a long time.

When I looked at my blood under a microscope

I could see truth multiplying over and over.

—Not police sirens, nor history books, not stage-three lymphoma persuaded me

but your honeycombs and beetles; the dry blond fascicles of grass
                                                        thrust up above the January snow.
Your postcards of Picasso and Matisse,
                                      from the museum series on European masters.

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

What American poet invented a poetic form, based on Japanese forms, that consisted of a single stanza with lines of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 2 syllables successively?

Answer

Adelaide Crapsey called this form a "cinquain." She also is credited with codifying the rhymed epigram couplet.

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