In honor of National Poetry Month, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Newtown Poet Laureate Lisa Schwartz is sharing some of her favorite works by local poets.Collected Poems, published in 1971. He was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, but moved to New York City toward the end of his life. Several of his most distinguished works were published by Wesleyan University Press in Middletown. James Wright died of throat cancer in 1980 at age 52.

This week's selection is "A Blessing," written by James Arlington Wright.

Wright wrote more than a dozen volumes of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize winning

"His poetry," said Ms Schwartz, "continues to influence contemporary writers with tender images of the natural world and an abiding sense of transcendence."

A Blessing

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,

Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.

And the eyes of those two Indian ponies

Darken with kindness.

They have come gladly out of the willows

To welcome my friend and me.

We step over the barbed wire into the pasture

Where they have been grazing all day, alone.

They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness

That we have come.

They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.

There is no loneliness like theirs.

At home once more,

They begin munching the young tufts of

spring in the darkness.

I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,

For she has walked over to me

And nuzzled my left hand.

She is black and white,

Her mane falls wild on her forehead,

And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear

That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.

Suddenly I realize

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom.

-James Arlington Wright