Season 2 is officially launched! Join Kev and the Lukes as they discuss the beautifully disturbing, or disturbingly beautiful poem “For My Daughter” by the mysterious Weldon Kees.  Here is a link to the text of the poem for you to read along.

Dana Gioia has written numerous times about Kees. His account of discovering Kees is not to be missed, and his take on the “cult of Kees” gives us a lot to think about concerning not only Kees in particular, but literary reputations in general.

Kees is of course not the first poet to write a poem for a child–this poem by W.B. Yeats comes up in the course of discussing Kees’ poem.

And since Kees here is playing with and against the form of the sonnet, we couldn’t help but think of the sonnets of William Shakespeare, especially the first several.

Since the world of poetry does not live in a vacuum, Luke Bauerlein found some interesting connections between Kees’ poem and the recent film from Paul Schrader, First Reformed. 

We hope that you enjoy the poem and discussion. Feel free to join that discussion by commenting here, or on our Facebook page.