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from the issue of September 27, 2007
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American Life in Poetry
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
A number of American poets are adept at describing places and the people who inhabit them. Galway Kinnell's great poem, "The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World" is one of those masterpieces, and there are many others. Here Anne Pierson Wiese, winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, adds to that tradition.
Columbus Park
Down at the end of Baxter Street,
where Five Points
slum used to be, just north of Tombs,
is a pocket park.
On these summer days the green plane
trees' leaves
linger heavy as a noon mist above
the men playing mah jongg - more
Chinese
in the air than English. The city's
composed
of village greens; we rely on the Thai
place on the corner: Tom Kha for a cold,
jasmine tea for fever, squid for love,
Duck Yum
for loneliness. Outside, the grove
of heat,
narrow streets where people wrestle
rash and unseen
angels; inside, the coolness of a glen
and the wait staff
in their pale blue collars
offering ice water.
Whatever you've done or undone,
there's a dish for you
to take out or eat in: spice for courage,
sweet for chagrin.
Poem copyright (c) 2003 by Anne Pierson Wiese. Reprinted from "Floating City," by Anne Pierson Wiese, published by Louisiana State University Press, 2007, with the permission of the author and publisher. Poem first published in "West Branch." Introduction copyright (c) 2007 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 SEPTEMBER 27
ARTS HEADLINES FOR SEPTEMBER 27
Off Broadway hit opens Theatrix season
American Life in Poetry
Georgian folk dancers to perform Oct. 4 at the Lied
Panel to discuss being a professional artist in the Midwest
Printmaking talk Oct. 4
'Rocket Science' opens Sept. 28 at the Ross
University of Nebraska Press Hurt Book Sale is Oct. 5-6
732946S37341X
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