On Aug. 10, poet Philip Levine was named the U.S. Poet Laureate by James Billington, Librarian of Congress. Billington called Levine the “laureate of the industrial heartland’ who writes with the voice of the ordinary workingman.
Levine has published more than 20 collections of poetry. What Work Is: Poem won the National Book Award in 1991 and “The Simple Truth,” published in 1995, received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He’s also won many other awards and honors.
At 83, Levine is one of oldest laureates to be named.
Our Valley
By Philip Levine
We don’t see the ocean, not ever, but in July and August
when the worst heat seems to rise from the hard clay
of this valley, you could be walking through a fig orchard
when suddenly the wind cools and for a moment
you get a whiff of salt, and in that moment you can almost
believe something is waiting beyond the Pacheco Pass,
something massive, irrational, and so powerful even
the mountains that rise east of here have no word for it.
You probably think I’m nuts saying the mountains
have no word for ocean, but if you live here
you begin to believe they know everything.
They maintain that huge silence we think of as divine,
a silence that grows in autumn when snow falls
slowly between the pines and the wind dies
to less than a whisper and you can barely catch
your breath because you’re thrilled and terrified.
You have to remember this isn’t your land.
It belongs to no one, like the sea you once lived beside
and thought was yours. Remember the small boats
that bobbed out as the waves rode in, and the men
who carved a living from it only to find themselves
carved down to nothing. Now you say this is home,
so go ahead, worship the mountains as they dissolve in dust,
wait on the wind, catch a scent of salt, call it our life.
Related:
New York Times: Voice of the Workingman to Be Poet Laureate.
Levine’s biography at The Poetry Foundation.
The Library of Congress news release, which includes a list of all of the U.S. poet laureates.
- Poets and Poems: Beth Copeland and “I Ask the Mountain to Heal My Heart” - July 10, 2025
- A.E. Stallings: the Parthenon Marbles, Poets, and Artists - July 8, 2025
- Poets and Fables: Steven Flint and “The Sun and the Boy” - July 3, 2025
Maureen Doallas says
I had to smile when I read the brief in the NYTimes that Levine’s books are selling out. It’s amazing what a little publicity will do for one’s career.
I first heard Levine read in the early ’70s at college. I think I still have the program from that evening. I went out the next day and purchased his work. The pages have turned yellow and a bit brittle.
Megan Willome says
I like that poem, maybe especially because I’m going to the mountains next week. I’ll try to sniff the salt.
Michael Dodaro says
I like this guy and his landscape!
theoncominghope says
Lovely post! I’m glad to become acquainted with Levine, but I’m most grateful to him for introducing me to Galway Kinnell:
A little bit about my discovery of Kinnell:
http://theoncominghope.blogspot.com/2011/08/discovering-new-old-poets-galway.htmlt