Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, Susan Blackwell Ramsey’s A Mind Like This is a work of humor and wit, unexpectedly delightful and full of surprises as it reflects on the oddness of everyday life, the natural world, literary history, popular culture, and more. Everything is fair game for Ramsey, who finds poetry in love and sickness and life, of course, but also in knitting and unreliable bladders and the peculiar name of Kalamazoo. Neruda makes an appearance, as do Eric Clapton and Brahms, Leonard and Virginia Woolf, and Jimmy Stewart.
Whether observing the pickled heads of Peter the Great’s offenders, wondering “How to Seduce Henry David Thoreau,” becoming the insecure voice of Kalamazoo, or puzzling over the intricacies of the mind that blocks a dear friend’s birthday while preserving the name of Emily Dickinson’s dog in perpetuity, Ramsey’s collection is wise and funny, allusive and deeply felt.
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upload/motw_shc_2025_10/shc/A Mind Like This - Susan Blackwell Ramsey.pdf

motw/A Mind Like This - Susan Blackwell Ramsey.pdf

Susan Blackwell Ramsey

Bison Books

United States, United States of America

FR, 2012

producers:
Acrobat Distiller 10.1.3 (Windows)

Memory of the World Librarian: Slowrotation

Poems.

Cover
1
Title Page
4
Copyright Page
5
Contents
10
Source Acknowledgments 13
A Mind Like This
16
Pickled Heads: St. Petersburg 18
Louise Erdrich Learning Ojibiwemowin 20
Tell Me If You’ve Heard This One 22
Kalamazoo Decides She Likes Her Name 24
“And All Trades, Their Gear andTackle and Trim” 25
Boliche 26
Peripheral: Emerson, 1847 28
Knitting Lace 30
The Duc de Saint-Simon BuysLady Murasaki a Drink 32
January, Tulips 33
Gaudeamus, Full Band Version 34
A Mind Like This 36
The Comfort of Pickup Trucks 38
Why I Hate Storytellers 39
Aftereffects of Bell’s Palsy 40
Ode to My Bladder 41
Outside Interests 43
Learning Curves 45
Mount St. Helen’s, May 18, 1980 47
Sexing the Alligator 50
The Sword 52
Mariah Educates the Sensitive 54
Crocheting Chaos 57
Children in Church 59
Beads 60
The Kalamazoo Mastodon 61
I’m in Love with Leonard Woolf 62
In Order to Swallow, a Frog Hasto Close Its Eyes 64
Neruda in Kalamazoo 66
Deadheading with Kellee 67
Valentine’s Day in Kalamazoo 69
Taking Jimmy Stewart to Bed 70
The Year Hits Perimenopause 71
Sow’s Ear 72
Lilium Orientale 73
How to Seduce Henry David Thoreau 75
To a Picky Eater at Love’s Table 77
August 78
Letter to Matt on the OpeningDay of Deer Season 79
Stalling 81
Amplification 83
Sexing the Alligator 84
The Genome for Luck 85
Lidian Emerson Watches Her HouseBurn, Concord, July 23, 1872 86
Pattern and Ground
88
Consider Hairs 90
Emerson’s Eyes 92
The Only Other Female in the House 94
Egg Tempera Painting, Koo Schadler,Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 95
The Tuesday before Our Friday Visit 96
Afterthought
97
Meeting Edward Lear in Heaven 98
Elegy from Halfway Up the Drive 99
Our Third Wedding ReceptionThis Year Hits Its Stride 101
Pattern and Ground 102
Washing My Husband’s Kilt Hose:A 32-Bar Reel 104

2025-10-27