Blizzard (Carl Phillips)

Yesterday was a spring poem, but today were are back to winter with Carl Phillips' poem, Blizzard.

It starts describing a day in a winter and something like betrayal between N and a lover. Then it darkens even more and goes through feelings of trust and longing and losing and wanting. I like this poem (as I like all his poems) for being like the complications of a relationship. What is actually going on in this poem is shrouded in half-spoken images, but the nervous, unsureness of it comes through. You get a sense of a man who wholeheartedly wants to mean something only he can't boil it down enough in order to speak it.

Life is complicated and delicate - that is what I get from his writing and the intricate phrasing he uses. His poetry makes me feel so raw/so gutted, as though I've experienced his heartache, his betrayal. He's truly talented.

Favorite line: "When I say / I trust you, I mean I've considered / that you could betray me"