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from the issue of April 24, 2008
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American Life in Poetry
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Putting bed pillows onto the grass to freshen, it's a pretty humble subject for a poem, but look how Kentucky poet, Frank Steele, deftly uses a sun-warmed pillow to bring back the comfort and security of childhood.
Part of a Legacy
I take pillows outdoors to sun them
as my mother did. "Keeps
bedding fresh,"
she said. It was April then, too -
buttercups fluffing their frail sails,
one striped bee humming grudges,
a crinkle
of jonquils. Weeds reclaimed
bare ground.
All of these leaked somehow
into the pillows, looking odd where they
simmered all day, the size of hams,
out of place
on grass. And at night I could feel
some part of my mother still with me
in the warmth of my face as I dreamed
baseball and honeysuckle, sleeping
on sunlight.
Poem copyright (c) 2000 by Frank Steele, whose most recent book of poetry is "Singing into That Fresh Light," co-authored with Peggy Steele, ed. Robert Bly, Blue Sofa Press, 2001. Reprinted from "Blue Sofa Review," Vol. II, no. 1, Spring 2000, by permission of Frank Steele. Introduction copyright (c) 2008 by The Poetry Foundation. This column is made possible by the Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org) and supported by the UNL Department of English. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.
GO TO: ISSUE OF APRIL 24
ARTS HEADLINES FOR APRIL 24
'Pulse' fashion show features senior work
American Life in Poetry
Great Plains art show and sale begin May 2
J.D. Edwards design project presentations are April 25
New Releases | University of Nebraska Press
'Poets on Painters' exhibit opens April 25 at Sheldon Museum of Art
Ross offers May 'passport'
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