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809 Joe Bolton “Tropical Courtyard” I’d like to pay homage to a young man who, sadly, did not survive the demons, the passions, the impulses that perhaps gave him the sensibility to become a great poet. In his twenty-eight years, however, he wrote some very moving and astounding poems. Joe Bolton was born in Cadiz in 1961 and studied at the University of Arizona, where he earned an M.F.A. He taught at the University of Florida in Gainesville and published two collections of poetry, Breckinridge County Suite (1987) and Days of Summer Gone (1990). The Last Nostalgia: Poems 1982–1990 was published posthumously in 1999. He took his own life in March 1990. The country of his poetry extended from his own rolling hills and river valleys of western Kentucky down to the languid Gulf Coast and the tropical tangles of Florida. h It is a rage against geometry: The spiked fans of the palmetto arcing Like improvised brushstrokes in the light breeze; Late shadowplay, somewhere a dog barking. Against the height of new and old brick walls, Confounding stone, transplanted pine and palm Lift in imperfection, as heavy bells That would force order fade into the calm Of azure and a faint scent of musk. (Is it eucalyptus or just the past?) There’s nothing in this warm, vegetal dusk That is not beautiful or that will last. ...

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