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Home > Tom Hansen

Tom Hansen [1]

Listed as: 
Poet
Public address: 
Custer, SD
South Dakota US
Email: 
hansent@gwtc.net
Bio: 

I live on ten acres of rocky, hilly, ponderosa-covered land in the Black Hills of South Dakota -- an immediate surround that often finds its way into my poems. The wind, the moon, and for some reason the sea also make frequent appearances. I write no formal and little rhymed poetry but pay close attention to sound and to line breaks. As I grow older, more of my work seems to reflect an implicit (or not so implicit?) spirituality -- this-worldly, not other-worldly. 

Old Men's Hands in Their Laps

They sit staring out from the wreckage                                                                                                                                            of mute faces -- men who have lived,                                                                                                                                           whose wrinkles and scars tell tales.                                                                                                                                                  Our grandfathers once, our fathers now,                                                                                                                                            and soon enough they will be us.

Dry husks that wither                                                                                                                                                                             in the slant light of windy October,                                                                                                                                                      their one wish is to sit in the sun                                                                                                                                                          and never move again -- those huge hands                                                                                                                                         motionless in their laps.

 

 

 

 

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
In which languages are you fluent?: 
English
Favorite authors: 
Fiction: Borges, Chandler, Faulkner, Hemingway, Louise Penny Nonfiction: Joseph Campbell, Bart Ehrman, Elaine Pagels, Donald Hall's books in the University of Michigan Poets on Poetry series Poetry: Bly, Hall, Mueller, Shelton, Dickinson, Whitman, Yeats, a host of others....
Born in: 
Lakeview, MI
Michigan
Raised in: 
Big Rapids, MI
Michigan
Prizes won: 

Falling to Earth, awarded the A. Poulin, Jr. Prize in Poetry

What I'm reading now: 
Alive Together by Lisel Mueller
Creative Mythology by Joseph Campbell
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Women in Praise of the Sacred by Jane Hirschfield, ed.
Writers Retreats: 
Ragdale
Identifies as: 
American
Prefers to work with: 
Adults

Source URL:https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/tom_hansen

Links
[1] https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/tom_hansen