{"id":715,"date":"2019-04-30T20:51:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T00:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/?page_id=715"},"modified":"2020-07-17T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T16:08:16","slug":"sean-dunn","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/poetry\/sean-dunn\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Dunn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lilac Trees (From Behind Screen Door)<\/strong><\/p>\n

You planted these lilacs last spring \u2013
\nDew glazed morning light spread
\nOnto the lawn as you sank the shovel
\nInto cold earth. You felt for a soft spot<\/p>\n

Of soil, somewhere to bury the seed. Your father,
\nHard-pressed for daylight, fought the sun
\nTo finish the yard work, years ago. He arrived late
\nFor dinner, downed a glass for each child at the table.<\/p>\n

I see him in you
\nLike a yellow wasp in a purple flower,
\nHovering above the sweet part, never quite settled.<\/p>\n

At the screen door between us
\nI watch you trim the aged trees,
\nClip the dead leaves, let them sit at your feet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n
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Birdwatching<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can see from where I\u2019m standing
\nThe footholds on the steps
\nWhere they step, now won\u2019t hold.
\nWalking, shifting, moving,
\nPenguin-like in their slow descent,
\nA group of baby-boomer birdwatchers
\nWaddles down the stairs.
\nProspect Park, early winter.
\nA lumberjack-hatted man nearly falls back
\nInto Ebbets Field, Jackie Robinson
\nAnd his first girlfriend. It\u2019s damn icy.
\nI can see her boots and eyes are skiddish,
\nA three-scarved, one-hipped woman \u2013
\nA wind from her Bedstuy childhood
\nHome steals up from beneath the porch
\nFloorboards, rises and slides across her face.
\nHer eyes scan and scour, sightless
\nOf a Lincoln\u2019s sparrow or eastern bluebird,
\nThe birds perhaps humming around
\nThe Lincoln Tunnel or Best Western
\nStanding where these watchers
\nOnce stood, danced, ran and fell.
\nI stand behind them, shift my weight in my boots
\nAs they pan the cityscape before me.
\nThe Fifth Avenue Line runs, roars
\nIn the silent moments on this winter day,
\nDowntown to Bay Ridge. These fragile,
\nHopeful birdwatchers know the stops and rocks
\nOf the fading train like a dirt road home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Winner of the 2019 Distinguished Voices Poetry Prize
\n<\/i>Selected by Chen Chen.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

“These poems spill forth with gorgeous imagery and in their attention to generations, to elders, while contemplating nature and labor, remind me of Seamus Heaney\u2019s \u201cDigging.\u201d I also think of Mary Oliver\u2019s work for the simultaneous clarity and mystery, the wise humor. Ultimately, these poems are idiosyncratically the author\u2019s, insistent and inviting.”
\n<\/em>– Chen Chen<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Sean<\/span>\u00a0Dunn<\/span><\/strong> is a graduate assistant with the Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies department. Before beginning his MS at SUNY Cortland, Sean<\/span>\u00a0majored in English and minored in History at Trinity College (CT).\u00a0Sean<\/span>‘s poetry explores familial relationships and human interactions with the natural world. His current academic focus centers on wilderness attitudes in the Adirondacks. When he is not reading or writing,\u00a0Sean<\/span>\u00a0enjoys running and cooking.<\/p>\n

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Back<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lilac Trees (From Behind Screen Door) You planted these lilacs last spring \u2013 Dew glazed morning light spread Onto the lawn as you sank the shovel Into cold earth. You felt for a soft spot Of soil, somewhere to bury the seed. Your father, Hard-pressed for daylight, fought the sun To finish the yard work, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"parent":692,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-715","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/715\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}