Mary Barnard was born in Vancouver, Washington and earned her BA from Reed College. Her books include A Few Poems (1952), The Mythmakers (1966), Three Fables (1975) and Nantucket Genesis: The Tale of My Tribe (1988). She was awarded Poetry magazine’s Levinson Award in 1935, the Elliston award for her book Collected Poems (1979), the Western States Book Award in 1986 for her book Time and the White Tigress (1986), and the Woman of Achievement award from Clark College in 1988. Barnard died in 2001.
More By This Poet
Remarks on Poetry and the Physical World
After reading Ash Wednesday
she looked once at the baked beans
and fled. Luncheonless, poor girl,
she observed a kind of poetic Lent—
and I had thought I liked poetry
better than she did.
I do. But to me its most endearing
quality is its unsuitableness;
and, conversely,...