Linda Pastan

Biography

Linda Pastan (1932 – 2023) authored more than ten poetry collections, including Almost an Elegy (Norton, 2022), Insomnia (Norton, 2015), and Traveling Light (Norton, 2011). She was Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 to 1995 and was a finalist for the National Book Award twice. She received a Pushcart Prize, a Dylan Thomas Award, the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry, the Di Castagnola Award, the Maurice English Award, and the 2003 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.

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.