Following Oprah’s reading of David Wagoner’s poem Lost, the poet updated us on the varied apperances of this popular verse.
“The poem has had a very strange history in addition to David Whyte‘s promotion of it. It’s been used as the basis of a sermon by the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Seattle as well as ministers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Lexington, Virginia; it’s been put on greeting cards without my permission and on several college T-shirts; two Alaska kayak organizations have made their clients memorize it before excursions; Garrison Keillor has used it twice on his Writer’s Almanac; it’s been set to music at least three times; James Whitaker, the first Western Hemisphere climber of Mt. Everest, told me he recited it halfway up on his second successful climb to celebrate his 65th birthday; and the in-house magazine of Boeing printed it on their front page and attributed it to a 19th Century Northwest Coast Indian shaman. Oprah is certainly a welcome addition.”
Lost appears in David Wagoner’s book Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems. His new book, A Map of the Night, will be published in August 2008 by the University of Illinois Press.
“Lost” on tour
Posted by michaelFollowing Oprah’s reading of David Wagoner’s poem Lost, the poet updated us on the varied apperances of this popular verse.
“The poem has had a very strange history in addition to David Whyte‘s promotion of it. It’s been used as the basis of a sermon by the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Seattle as well as ministers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Lexington, Virginia; it’s been put on greeting cards without my permission and on several college T-shirts; two Alaska kayak organizations have made their clients memorize it before excursions; Garrison Keillor has used it twice on his Writer’s Almanac; it’s been set to music at least three times; James Whitaker, the first Western Hemisphere climber of Mt. Everest, told me he recited it halfway up on his second successful climb to celebrate his 65th birthday; and the in-house magazine of Boeing printed it on their front page and attributed it to a 19th Century Northwest Coast Indian shaman. Oprah is certainly a welcome addition.”
Lost appears in David Wagoner’s book Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems. His new book, A Map of the Night, will be published in August 2008 by the University of Illinois Press.