BRUCE WILLARD
Bruce Willard Choice 15A5257.jpg

“Willard’s poems articulate the genuine pitch of what it means to be fully alive.”

-Afaa Michael Weaver


Bruce Willard’s poems have appeared in AGNI, Alaska Quarterly Review, Cortland Review, Harvard Review, Ploughshares, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner as well as on NPR’s Writer’s Almanac, Poetry Foundation’s American Life In Poetry, curated by Kwame Dawes, and The Slowdown curated by Major Jackson.

He has published 3 collections of poems: Holding Ground (2013), Violent Blues (2016) and In Light of Stars (2021) - all 3 published by Four Way Books (NYC). In Light of Stars received an Indie Book Award Prize for Poetry in 2022.

In addition to his work as a poet, Willard directs the Blue Raven Poetry Series in Rockland, Maine -Blue Raven Poetry Series | Blue Raven Gallery

He lives in Maine and Colorado.

32 Bar Blues Foundation
www.32barblues.com

 
Bruce_BG_Gold_CLOUDS_2.jpg
 

WHAT I WANT
 

I want to be heard, not seen,

the voice late night on FM between sets,

the blues which sounds hollow and full,

a fog horn in the fog at noon.

 

I want to be read slowly, out loud,

heard like wind, close, but from some distance.

A footfall which says, I’m coming

to an uncarpeted hall,

a word which says, I’m here to the dark.

 
speaker_top_light.jpg
Bruce_BG_Gold.jpg