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from the issue of December 6, 2007
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American Life in Poetry
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Here's a holiday poem by Steven Schneider that I like very much for its light spirit and evocative sensory detail. Isn't this a party to which you'd like to be invited?
Chanukah Lights Tonight
Our annual prairie Chanukah party -
latkes, kugel, cherry blintzes.
Friends arrive from nearby towns
and dance the twist to "Chanukah
Lights Tonight,"
spin like a dreidel to a klezmer hit.
The candles flicker in the window.
Outside, ponderosa pines are tied
in red bows.
If you squint,
the neighbors' Christmas lights
look like the Omaha skyline.
The smell of oil is in the air.
We drift off to childhood
where we spent our gelt
on baseball cards and matinees,
cream sodas and potato knishes.
No delis in our neighborhood,
only the wind howling over
the crushed corn stalks.
Inside, we try to sweep the
darkness out,
waiting for the Messiah to knock,
wanting to know if he can join the party.
Reprinted from "Prairie Air Show," Talking River Publications, 2000, by permission of Steven Schneider. Poem copyright (c) 2000 by Steven Schneider. 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 DECEMBER 6
ARTS HEADLINES FOR DECEMBER 6
‘Dirty Hands' opens Dec. 6
American Life in Poetry
Author signing Dec. 12
'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' opens Dec. 7
JOYOUS NOISE
NET concert series continues Dec. 9
Ross to showcase live Metropolitan Opera House performances starting Dec. 15
733016S37680X
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