(In Springfield, Illinois) It is portentous, and a thing of state That here at midnight, in our little town A mourning figure walks, and will not rest, Near the old court-house pacing up and down, Or by his homestead, or in shadowed yards He lingers where his children used to play, Or
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states
Illinois
On December 11, 2003, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich named Kevin Stein the state’s fourth poet laureate, following Howard Austin, Carl Sandburg, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Stein has published eight poetry collections and chapbooks, three scholarly books, and two poetry anthologies.
recent & featured listings
type |
name | state |
|---|---|---|
| Colony | The Ragdale Foundation | Illinois |
| Writing Program | Art Institute of Chicago | Illinois |
| Writing Program | Columbia College, Chicago | Illinois |
| Writing Program | Illinois State University | Illinois |
| Writing Program | Illinois Wesleyan University | Illinois |
| Writing Program | Knox College | Illinois |
| Writing Program | Midwest Writer's Workshop | Illinois |
| Writing Program | University of Illinois | Illinois |
| Writing Program | University of Illinois at Chicago | Illinois |
| Landmark | The Carl Sandburg Cottage | Illinois |
poems
poem
1913
poem
2017
(“and the people live till they have white hair”)
E. M. Price
The dry brown coughing beneath their feet,
(Only for a while, for the handyman is on his way)
These people walk their golden gardens.
We say ourselves fortunate to be driving by today.
poem
2016
The market is made of fire so nothing
Stands, or stands—even in the ideal
City of Pullman, I hear “nigga run,”
One child shouting to another in ruins,
Of ruin and so call out in paradise
To the live bloody skeleton hung softly
As summer in each other to escape
This year’s
