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On July 1, 2010, the Library of Congress appointed W.S. Merwin Poet Laureate. Copper Canyon Press is proud to have published poetry, prose, and translations by W.S. Merwin over the course of his storied career. His most recent collection, The Shadow of Sirius, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Read sample poems and reviews here.

Copper Canyon Press is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to fostering the work of emerging, established, and world-renowned poets for an ever expanding audience. Please join us!

Send your congratulations.

Richard Jones

The Spoon

Some days I think I need nothing
more in life than a spoon.
With a spoon I can eat oatmeal
or take the medicine doctors prescribe.
I can swat a fly sleeping on the sill
or pound the table to get attention.
I can point accusingly at God
or stab the empty air repeatedly.
Looking into the spoon's mirror,
I can study my small face in its shiny bowl,
or cover one eye to make half the world
disappear. With a spoon
I can dig a tunnel to freedom
spoonful by spoonful of dirt,
or waste life catching moonlight
and flinging it into the blackest night.