Marianne_moore
Photo from famouspoetsandpoems.com
When conversations arise about St. Louis' mysterious ability to nurture important poetic talent (Eliot, Williams, Seidel), native Kirkwoodian Marianne Moore often gets left off the list. Maybe that's because the family moved out of Missouri pretty early; she's buried in Pennsylvania, and the popular image of her is in black cape and tricorn hat, throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. But she was nearly 10 when she left St. Louis -- I'm going to claim her on our behalf, at least during national poetry month.
Moore's most famous poem is called, appropriately enough, "Poetry," though I far prefer her animal poems, e.g., "The Pangolin." If you want to really get the essence of Moore, however, there's probably no better evokation of the lady than in her friend Elizabeth Bishop's poem "Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore." --Stefene Russell
