Please enjoy this overview of Mark Doty's work. Here you will find biographical information, links to poems and interviews, and writing prompts for you to explore. You can view Mark Doty's 2015 reading at the Poetry Center here on voca, our Audio-Video Library.
BIO
Mark Doty was born in Tennessee and now lives in New Jersey where he teaches at Rutgers University. In his work Doty draws deeply from his experiences as a gay man. In 1994 Doty lost his partner, Wally Roberts, to AIDS; this was a formative experience in Doty’s early life. Doty is the author of thirteen collections of poetry, four memoirs, and four collections of essays. His most recent collection of poetry is called Deep Lane (2015).
POEMS & PROMPTS
Dangerous invitations, packed flat:
six sky lanterns, for my birthday,
rice paper sack glues at the seams,
a thin bamboo ring at bottom for a mouth,
a wire armature holding a deck-of-cards stack
of paper soaked in wax. “Frial, illegal,”
we know, but this birthday ends in zero,
a turn I’m not so inclined to celebrate,
and who could resist a lantern lifted
by its own flame, sailing out
Prompt: Write an age poem.
Not, exactly, green:
closer to bronze
preserved in kind brine,
something retrieved
from a Greco-Roman wreck,
patinated and oddly
muscular. We cannot
know what his fantastic
legs were like –
Prompt: Copy the form of this poem: try writing a piece in triplets with short, rich lines.
This salt-stain spot
marks the place where men
lay down their heads,
back to the bench
and hoist nothing
that need to be lifted
but some burden they’ve chosen
this time: more reps,
Prompt: In this time of social distancing a lot of us are daydreaming about the days we could share space with other people. Write a poem about a public space (i.e. a library, the bus, or the gym!) – what senses did this place once engage? Who occupied this space?
Grateful for their tour
of the pharmacy,
the first-grade class
has drawn these pictures,
each self-portrait taped
to the window-glass,
faces wide to the street,
round and available,
with parallel lines for hair.
Prompt: Write an ekphrastic poem for an unexpected piece of art.
INTERVIEWS