Today we had the wonderful pleasure of reading aloud the works of Gilbert Sorrentino, from his earliest book of poetry “The Darkness Surrounds Us.” Kind of in obscure poet. Born in New York, grew up in New York, lived in New York, went to school in New York, fought in the Korean War, was married, had 2 kids, and died in 2006.
His poetry is characteristically vague and sometimes altogether non-comprehensible, but many of the poems are also quite enriching. With his unique sense of husbandry, fatherhood, and participating in the intelligentsia, felt inspired quite inspired enough to write the following poem: