“You chase the poem … until it catches you.”

— James Ragan

Reading at Carnegie Hall - 2001

James Ragan at the Hunger Wall - Prague, Czech Republic

“Poets are myth makers and myth breakers. I wanted to “live” poetry rather than just write it. That was the impulse that took me out into the world”

— James Ragan

Letter from poet-playwright Samuel Beckett thanking Ragan for his poetry — June 10, 1987

 
 

“James Ragan continues to be something very important in our troubled world; a genuine ambassador of poetry to those who need what it has to give.”

— Poet John Frederick Nims

Poetry

“On learning english, I discovered language as a matter of survival, a weapon more powerful than fighting with fists. This shaped my respect for the power of words, and by extension, the art of poetry as a way of engaging global suffering and prejudice.”

— James Ragan

FOREIGN EDITIONS

Womb-Weary. Ludmila Marjanska, trans. Writers Union Publications. Warsaw, Poland, 1993.

The Hunger Wall. Miroslav Holub & Daniela Furthnerova, trans. ELK Pub. Prague, Czech Rep, 2005.

Selected Tallinn Poems. Andres Ehin & Julius Ort, trans. Varrak Publ. Tallinn Estonia, 2005

Womb-Weary. Maurice Kilwein Guevara, trans. Travesias Publishers, Madrid, Spain, 2011.

Selected Poems: James Ragan. Mirka Nacinova, trans. Slovak Edition. Elk Publ. Prague, 2023.

 

Origin of “On Liberty and Church Streets in Lower Manhattan”  by James Ragan

In 2002 poet and playwright James Ragan, Director of the Graduate Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California, was asked by USC’s President Steven Sample to compose a poem for the first year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on New York’s World Trade Center. Refusing an honorarium, Ragan flew to New York to witness, first hand, the ashen grounds of the fallen Twin Towers and composed the poem “On Liberty and Church Streets in Lower Manhattan,” which he subsequently recited at the 2002 memorial observance for an audience of 2,000 people at USC’s McCarthy Quad. It was subsequently presented to former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Craig Stapleton and his wife Debbie, who forwarded the poem to First Lady Laura Bush. The First Lady graciously forwarded the poem to several family members of 9/11 victims and U.S. Embassies. The poem has, since 2003, been read at numerous official commemorations, including the annual 9/11 Commission dinner in 2014 with NY Mayor Bloomberg attending.

for the 3,025 dead, how I listen to their absence.                                                      

                                      a

Long after nightfall crawls beyond the Park Street pier

where the rain drift of ash now tints the asphalt,

and where at dawn the long rope of sunlight

no longer swings from one tall wall to another,

a moon rides up the light’s twin beams

to where the shore has called the memory to harbor,

 

and while there are no lawns of campion, larch, or yarrow,

no flowerings to root, no words to borrow

back the long deep breath of a city’s soft wind whistle,

those who first heard the sun’s laughter in the skylight stutter

then stop to let the world go dark—all who wondered,

thinking of the goodness in themselves, and the godness,

 

will not remember how they stared shock-still,

at something heaved out of the sky, white

as the sun exploding or the lambent shears of lightning

that ripped the chaos of illusion from their eyes.

For months I could not walk to see the steel crane spooning forth

the bones’ debris against the moon’s translucence.

I could not hear the voices in the buried fire candle up

to be extinguished. I could not listen to their absence.

  b.

Once along the streets of Liberty and Church,

I saw the girder’s grid of steel leaning out

like a meshed screen sculpture,

to where the digging must have wanted union

with the souls’ debris in some communal citizenry of sky.

If I could join their flight, I would be a citizen of the leaves

and fall greening skyward, lean as the stems of stars.

I would be a citizen of water if I could bathe

each window’s reflection of the ground grave below

with the image of a thousand repeating spires.

I would be a citizen of air to watch the wind’s breath settle,

if I could spare the flights of souls

their pluraled fall onto the spears of metal.                                                                                

c.

But I have taken the lean bridge to darkness,

walked like a thigh-stilted spoonbill across the knuckle bones of faith

to cross a world of centuried indifference,

and I have searched the avenues of alphabets

to exorcise a concept, as if the word, zero,

nullifies the sanctity of souls and the ground they inhabit.

 

And while I have watched the floating crush of a tower’s will,

and seen, from Washington to Pennsylvania fields,

how with the future there comes a birthing

of remembrance so profound the voices rise

like crofts of swallows in a riot of flight.

 

If I could seed these words into the language of choirs,

I would be a citizen of the earth and crawl the moon’s lit path

to join a universe of hands in weeding out all boundaries.

I would roil the lamps on all the curbs of Manhattan,

to light the streets we cross, at Church and Liberty,

on whose ground I find my peace, a footing I could not learn or teach

until I listened to their absence, and feared the loss of each.

  

                                                                            James Ragan

On Liberty and Church Streets in Lower Manhattan

AWARDS

  • Resolution by LA City Council & Mayor Antonio Villarigosa - 2006

  • Congratulatory letter from First Lady Laura Bush for Ragan's 25th Anniversary Tribute at USC - 4/10/2006

  • Swan Foundation Humanitarian Award for Literature - 11/4/1972

  • Resolution, City of Pittsburgh & Allegheny County Commissioners - 1979

  • Commencement Speaker at St. Vincent College - 4/19/2006

  • St. Vincent College Presidential Medal awarded at Commencement - 2006

  • Honorary Membership, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences in recognition of 1985 Reading at Moscow Int. Poetry Festival

  • Congratulatory letter from US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, William Cabaniss, for Ragan's 25th Anniversary Tribute at USC

  • Borestone Award - 5/1974

  • Recognition of Ragan's poem, "For Veronica," by the World Children's Transplant Fund

  • First Place Winner Kentucky State Poetry Society Competition

  • Congratulatory letter from Debbie and Craig Stapleton, US Ambassador to France, for Ragan’s USC 25 th Anniversary Tribute - 2006

  • Golden Key National Honor Society - 1997

  • Finalist 2010 Oklahoma Book Award

  • Receiving the Phi Kappa Phi Creative Artist Award, US Western Region, Portland, OR - June, 1999

  • Phi Kappa Phi Creative Artist Award, US Western Region - 1999

  • With Pulitzer Prize journalist Clarence Page, recipients of the Ohio University Presidential Medal of Merit — 1990

  • Addressing the audience after receiving the 1990 Ohio University Presidential Medal of Merit for Poetry — 1990

  • One of the Grand Marshalls of the Ohio University Homecoming parade after receiving Ohio University’s Presidential Medal of Merit for Poetry

  • 1990 Ohio University Presidential Medal of Merit for Poetry

  • Phi Kappa Award Honoree at the University of Southern California - 4/5/2002

  • Receiving the Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Recognition Award at USC - 4/4/2000

  • Recipient of the Vladimir Zelman Distinguished Endowed Lectureship Award, Presented by Dr. Vladimir Zelman, USC Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA - 4/1/2015

  • The Vladimir Zelman Distinguished Endowed Lectureship Award

Copy of Ragan’s poem “The Astronaut,” signed by Apollo-Soyuz Astronauts, Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton, Vance Brand, Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov, and guest Wally Schirra during Ragan’s reading of the poem at the 15th Anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz mission — USC Science Museum, July 20-23, 1990

 

UNIVERSITY HONORS

Litt. D. Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Richmond Univ. London, England (05/10/01).

Litt. D. Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. St. Vincent College. Latrobe, PA (04/26/90).

USC Keck School of Medicine Zelman Award, Dist. Contributions to the Humanities (4/1/15)

USC Tribute, 25th Anniversary of Directorship of Professional Writing Prog. (4/19/07)

Presidential Medal and Commencement Address. St. Vincent College (May 10, 2003).

Phi Beta Kappa Honoree. University of Southern California (April 5, 2002).

USC Presidential Ambassadorship. University of Southern California (09/2000-current).

Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award. University of Southern California (March 4, 2000).

Phi Kappa Phi Creative Artist Award. Western Region. Portland, OR (June 1999).

Golden Key National Honor Society Induction. University of Southern California (03/6/1997).

Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award. University of Southern California (March 5, 1997).

Mortar Board Honor Society, Faculty of the Month. Univ. of Southern California (02/96).

Distinguished Alumnus Award. St. Vincent College. Latrobe, PA (August 3, 1991).

Medal of Merit in Poetry. Ohio University. Athens, Ohio (October 12, 1990).

Convocation Address. St. Vincent College. Latrobe, PA (April 26, 1990).

FURTHER DISTINCTIONS

Bucharest Wallacia Film Festival. Hon. Award for “Contributions to Film,” Bucharest, Romania (9/10/21)

Salmon Press, Ireland 40th Anniversary: Website Featuring 9/11 poem On Liberty & Church Streets (9/2021)

Albert Nelson Marquis Who’s Who in America Life Achievement Award. Berkeley Heights, N.J. (10/14/19)

Globe Bookstore Tribute: Photo Portrait (alongside Vaclav Havel, Margaret Atwood) Prague (2019)

Charles IV Exhibit. Book Honor, “The Hunger Wall.” Strahov Monastary, Prague, Czech Republic (10/2016)

Remi Platinum Award. Documentary, Flowers & Roots. 49th Houston Film Festival. Houston, TX (4/16/16)

“Flowers & Roots” Premiere: James Ragan Tribute. Regal Cinema w/ Panelist David Hartman (Good Morning America) David Bianculli (NPR), Al Young (Poet Laureate), Actor Cathy Lee Crosby, Alan Fox. L.A (3/31/16)

Vaclav Havel Library. Induction Honors: “Short Trousers for Vaclav Havel.” Prague, Czech Republic (12/18/15)

Troubadour International Poetry Prize. Finalist. London, England (11/30/15)

California State Poet Laureate Nomination. Sacramento, CA (4/20/15)

Vladimir Zelman Dist. Endowed Lectureship. USC Keck School of Medicine. Los Angeles, CA (4/1/15)

Premiere, Documentary “Flowers and Roots,” Honoree. Bratislava Int’l Film Festival, Slovakia, (11/7/13)

International Slovaks in the World. Hall of Fame Induction. Bratislava, Slovakia (November, 2013)

ARCH Mamilla Poetry Fest. Award & Delegate. Judge, Yusef Komunyakaa. Ramallah, Palestine (11/2013)

Amazon’s 100 Great Poems: Classic Poets & Beatnik Freaks, “The Tent People of Beverly Hills” (1/1/2012)

2010 Oklahoma Book Awards. Finalist. Poetry, “Too Long a Solitude.” Oklahoma City, OK (April 17, 2010)

Keynote Speaker, World Literature Today Conference. Beijing Normal Univerity. Beijing, China (10/16/08)

USC 25th Anniversary Tribute to James Ragan: Citations from President George W. Bush, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villarigosa, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Ambassadors to France, Czech Rep, Sweden (4/19/06)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Philip Appleman. NY (Feb, 2006)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Gerry Locklin. NY (Feb, 2006)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Marvin Bell. New York, NY (January, 2004)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by William Baer. New York, NY (Dec, 2003)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Joyce Carol Oates. New York, NY (Feb, 2003)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Philip Appleman. New York, NY (Feb, 2002)

Trencianske Teplice Art Film Festival Honoree. President of Jury. Trencianske Teplice, Slovakia (June 2002)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Philip Appleman. New York, NY (Feb, 2002)

Letterman of Distinction. St. Vincent College. Latrobe, PA (April 27, 2001)

Laureate. Honorary Member. Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Moscow, Russia (May 1997)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Carol Muske-Dukes. New York, NY (Feb, 1997)

“Coolest 100 People of Los Angeles: Those Who Make a Difference” Buzz Magazine. LA, CA (10/1996)

Telly Award: for TV Show,“Poet’s Chamber.” Host: James Ragan. BHTV-Cable. Beverly Hills, CA (4/1996)

Walt Whitman Camden Center Award Finalist. Womb-Weary. Judge: Stephen Dunn. Camden, NJ (1987)

Denver Quarterly Poetry Prize. Finalist. Judge: Stanley Plumly. Denver, CA (1987)

Gertrude Claytor Award. Poetry Society of America. 2 nd Place. Judge: Sonia Sanchez. New York, NY (1987)

Pushcart Poetry Prize. Nominated by Ann Stanford. New York, NY (1986 and 1987)

49 th Parallel Poetry Award. Bellingham Review. Judge: Knute Skinner. Bellingham, WA (1985)

Billie Murray Denny Award. Runner-Up. Lincoln College. Lincoln, IL (October 1981)

City of Pittsburgh Citation. County Commissioners. Pittsburgh, PA (1979)

Miami Film Festival. Best Short Live Film, First Prize: Dyan Cannon’s Number One. Miami, FL (1978)

Best Short Film. Dyan Cannon’s Number One. Academy Award Nom. (Investor/Post-Prod.) L.A, CA (1977)

Borestone Mountain Poetry Award. Nomination: Best Poems of 1974 and 1975. Los Angeles, CA

Ashland University Press Book Competition. Finalist: In the Talking Hours. Ashland, OH (1973)

Coord. Council of Lit. Mag Grant, National Endowment of Arts (NEA) Lotus Mag, Athens, OH (1973)

Humanitarian Award. Swan Foundation. Pittsburgh, PA (1971)

Emerson Poetry Prize. Ohio University. Judge: William Stafford. Athens, OH (1971)

Young Poets Award. Kentucky State Poetry Society. Louisville, KY (1971)

POETRY ANTHOLOGIES

  • Slovakia in Poems, Foreword by James Ragan, Ed. Eleni Cay, Global Slovakia Publ, Bratislava, Slovakia (2021)

  • Surviving Suicide: For the Homeless, Ed. Dean Stalham, Nirala Series, Niralapublications, Katmandu, Nepal (2021)

  • Pratik: Los Angeles Poetry, Tony Barnstone ed. Nirala Publications, Katmandu, Nepal (2021)

  • Universal Oneness, Magnum Opus World Anthology. Vivekanand Jha, ed. Authorspress. New Delhi, India, 2019

  • Eternal Snow. David Austell, Kathleen Gallagher, eds. Nirala Publications. Katmandu, Nepal, May, 2017

  • Even the Daybreak. Jessie Lendennie, ed. Salmon Press. Knockeven, Ireland, 2016

  • World Poetry Yearbook 2014. Shang Zhi, ed. IPTRC, Guizhou Dushan, China, 2015.

  • Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles & Beyond. Suzanne Lummis, ed. Beyond Baroque Bks. Los Angeles, CA, 2015.

  • Poems for Mamilla. Seamus Cashman ed. ARCH and Otherworld Bks. Dublin, Ireland, 2014.

  • Second Genesis. Moizur Rehman Khan, ed. ARAWLII Publishers. Ajmer, India, 2014.

  • Oklahoma Poems and Their Poets. Nathan Brown, ed. Mescalita Press. Norman, Oklahoma, 2013.

  • Breaking the Jaws of Silence. Sholeh Wolpe, ed. University of Arkansas Press. Fayetteville, Arkansas, 2013.

  • 40 Voices. Anna Stearman, ed. Richmond University Press. London, England. Nov.2012.

  • Agave. Nathan Brown, ed. Ink Brush Press. Dallas, TX, 2011.

  • From a Terrace in Prague. Stephan Delbos, ed. Pragenesis, Charles University. Prague, Czech Republic, 2011.

  • Return of Kral Majales. Louis Armand, ed. Pragenesis, Charles University.Prague, Czech Republic, 2010.

  • Che in Verse. Gavin O’Toole, ed. Aflame Books, Wiltshire, England, 2007.

  • Vespers: Spirituality in 21 st Century America. Virgil Suarez, ed. University of Iowa Press, 2003.

  • Southern California Anthology, 15 th Anniversary Issue. James Ragan, ed. USC, Los Angeles 1998.

  • Vilencia 1996. Veno Taufer, ed. Ljubljana, Slovenia: Slovene Writers Association, 1996.

  • Kobe: Greeting Card Project. Kobe City, Japan: Felissimo, 1995.

  • Grand Passion: The Poets of Los Angeles. Suzanne Lummis, ed. LA: Los Angeles Poetry Festival, 1995.

  • The Modern Poets Anthology: Five Poets. Paul Lee, ed. Seoul, Korea: East Wind, 1995.

  • Southern California Anthology, 10 th Anniversary Issue. James Ragan, ed., USC: Los Angeles, 1993.

  • Bohemian Verse. Scott Rogers, ed. Modra Musa. Prague, Czech Republic, 1993.

  • Two Worlds Walking. C.W. Truesdale & Diane Glancy, eds. Minneapolis: New Rivers, 1993.

  • A Gathering of Poets. Maggie Anderson & Alex Gildzen, eds. OH: Kent State University Press, CA 1992.

  • Skunk. Lynn Saul & Ellen Basso, eds. NM: MacDonald & Reinecke, 1992.

  • Boundaries of Twilight: Czech-Slovak Writing from the New World. N.J. Hribal, ed. New Rivers, 1991.

  • West Winds IV. Strawberry Hill, San Francisco, CA 1989.

  • On Paper Gallery. Mie Motoami, ed. Aqua Planets Publishing, Tokyo, Japan,1989.

  • The Dolphin’s Arc. Elisavietta Ritchie, ed., SCOP, Washington, DC, 1989.

  • Anthology of American Magazine Verse. Intro by James Ragan, Ed. Alan Pater, Monitor Books, Los Angeles, CA 1989.

  • Intro #4. R.V. Cassil and George Garrett, eds. Virginia. University Press of Virginia, 1971.

  • New Voices. Virginia: Young Publications, 1970.

 

Senator Charles Schumer extends US Senate congratulations to James Ragan and Galway Kinnell for their poetry performances at Carnegie Hall’s Lyric Recovery Festival — 2000