Linda Pastan

Biography

Linda Pastan’s twelfth book of poems, Queen of a Rainy Country, was published by Norton in 2006. She was Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 to 1995 and has been a finalist twice for the National Book Award. She won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize in 2003.

See Work

POETRY / Spring 2015

At the Winery

By Linda Pastan
POETRY / Spring 2015

Fingerprints

By Linda Pastan

I’m asked questions about travel—
What countries I’ve visited, how long I stayed.

They press my fingers to a pad then frown
and shake their heads and press again.

POETRY / Fall 2013

Snapshot of Bess at Fifteen

By Linda Pastan

Bending over the piano,
or putting the oboe to her lips,
she makes music the way a tree 

POETRY / Fall 2013

Flora

By Linda Pastan

In the great Archaeological Museum of Naples, 
I visited Flora—force 
behind everything that flowers—a fresco 

POETRY / Autumn 1987

Vacation

By Linda Pastan

On the quietest days,
when the sea just hovers in the background
and the light is no particular color
I forget summer,

POETRY / Autumn 1987

At Great Point

By Linda Pastan

Is this the very face
of an angry God, or simply
his instrument?

POETRY / Autumn 1987

The Angel of Death

By Linda Pastan

Ingres drew her
with rudimentary breasts
and pre-pubescent wings
barely sketched in.

POETRY / Winter 1995

Ruins

By Linda Pastan

We picnic by these bleached ruins
a few miles from the village
where we bought this rough
bread and cheese, this bottle

POETRY / Winter 1995

Cosmic Dust: For David

By Linda Pastan

On nights when you can’t sleep
I think you open the doo
to the sky

POETRY / Spring 2008

Insomnia

By Linda Pastan

I remember when my body
was a friend,

when sleep like a good dog
came when summoned.