'It's what you can't stop thinking about'

“You have your identity when you find out, not what you can keep your mind on, but what you can't keep your mind off.” – A. R. Ammons

 

Born in North Carolina on this date in 1926, Ammons worked as an elementary school principal and a glass company executive before turning his full attention to literature – both teaching and writing.   From 1964 to 1998 he taught creative writing at Cornell University while authoring hundreds, if not thousands, of poems.

 

Ammons wrote about nature and the self, themes that had preoccupied Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman and that remained the central focus of his work.  His Collected Poems, 1951–1971 (a terrific read) won a National Book Award.   And his Selected Poems is an excellent introduction to his works   In his work, Ammons focuses on change, both in nature and in daily life.           

                                                               

 Shortly before his death in 2001 Ammons was asked: “What is poetry?”    

                                                               

 “Poetry," he replied, "is the music of words . . . the linguistic correction of disorder.”