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from the issue of March 9, 2006
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American Life in Poetry
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
Every parent can tell a score of tales about the difficulties of raising children, and then of the difficulties in letting go of them. Here the Texas poet, Walt McDonald, shares just such a story.
Some Boys are Born to Wander
From Michigan our son writes, How many elk?
How many big horn sheep? It's spring,
and soon they'll be gone above timberline,
climbing to tundra by summer. Some boys
are born to wander, my wife says, but rocky slopes
with spruce and Douglas fir are home.
He tried the navy, the marines, but even the army
wouldn't take him, not with a foot like that.
Maybe it's in the genes. I think of wild-eyed years
till I was twenty, and cringe. I loved motorcycles,
too dumb to say no to our son--too many switchbacks
in mountains, too many icy spots in spring.
Doctors stitched back his scalp, hoisted him in traction
like a twisted frame. I sold the motorbike to a junkyard,
but half his foot was gone. Last month, he cashed
his paycheck at the Harley house, roared off
with nothing but a backpack, waving his headband,
leaning into a downhill curve and gone.
First published in "New Letters," Vol. 69, 2002, and reprinted from "A Thousand Miles of Stars," 2004, by permission of the author and Texas Tech University Press. Copyright (c) 2002 by Walt McDonald. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the UNL Department of English. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.
GO TO: ISSUE OF MARCH 9
ARTS HEADLINES FOR MARCH 9
MFA exhibition opens March 20
American Life in Poetry
AWARD WINNER
Book jacket, journal designs on display
Celtic musicians to treat Lied audience March 17
Classical guitarist to perform March 13
Family day at Sheldon March 26
'Human Aspect of Design' opens March 20 at Kruger
'La Petite Jérusalem,' 'The White Countess' open on March 17
Lecture to examine Underground Railroad quilting
Lux center designs new exhibition format
Student quilt art exhibit seeks entries
UNL's Haar to entertain at Free at 6 March 27
732379S35629X
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