Principle Inspirations: Poetry from Mary Angelino

Mary Angelino has been named one of 2010's best new poets.

Helping My Father Write His Father’s Eulogy

Instead of uneducated, write immigrant,
instead of mason –
artist with brick and stone.

If you say worked hard, always
food on the table, you won’t need
to say poor.

He’d want the Pslam read first
to get it out of the way.

End with the time
he drove to that mansion,
the fence as white as a rich man’s teeth,

Just to show you the tile rooftop,
blue as a thousand passports
cut from the sky.

Another of her poems, "Refugee," is beautiful and heartbreaking. She presents it at this reading:



Principle Inspirations is a new blog series that features those special things that makes us laugh and cry -- the things that motivate and inspire us. We hope you'll share your stories with us, too.