Mona in the Corner

James and Aaron revisit Reginald Shepherd's poem "The Gods at 3 A.M." Then they play a round of Top, Bottom, Verse where they ponder the erotic styles of poets like Hart Crane, Walt Whitman, and Mona van Duyn.

Reginald Shepherd's blog can be found here. His books are still in print and were all published by the University of Pittsburgh Press (under the fabulous direction of Ed Ochester):
Some Are Drowning (1994; chosen by Carolyn Forchè for the AWP Award in Poetry)
Angel, Interrupted (1996)
Wrong ( 1999)
Otherhood (2003)
Fata Morgana (2007)
Red Clay Weather (2011).

You can read the interview we reference in Callaloo here. 

Shepherd held a BA from Bennington College and MFAs from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa and from Cornell. He was born on April 10, 1963 and died September 10, 2008. He appeared in four editions of Best American Poetry and in two Pushcart Prize anthologies. 

Mona van Duyn was the US Poet Laureate from 1992-1993.