It's been a while since I posted one of former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's poetry columns, but this one struck a chord with me so I decided to share it.

American Life in Poetry: Column 214

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Sometimes I wonder at my wife's forbearance. She's heard me tell the same stories dozens of times, and she still politely laughs when she should. Here's a poem by Susan Browne, of California, that treats an oft-told story with great tenderness.

On Our Eleventh Anniversary

You're telling that story again about your childhood,
when you were five years old and rode your blue bicycle

from Copenhagen to Espergaerde, and it was night
and snowing by the time you arrived,

and your grandparents were so relieved to see you,
because all day no one knew where you were,

you had vanished. We sit at our patio table under a faded green
umbrella, drinking wine in California's blue autumn,

red stars of roses along the fence, trellising over the roof
of our ramshackle garage. Too soon the wine glasses will be empty,

our stories told, the house covered with pine needles the wind
has shaken from the trees. Other people will live here.

We will vanish like children who traveled far in the dark,
stars of snow in their hair, riding to enchanted Espergaerde.


American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c)2007 by Susan Browne, whose most recent book of poems is "Buddha's Dogs," Four Way Books, 2004. Poem reprinted from "Mississippi Review" Vol. 35, nos. 1-2, Spring 2007, and reprinted by permission of the author and publisher. Introduction copyright (c)2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006

iTunes is currently playing: The Dreams Of Children from the album The Dreams of Children by Shadowfax.

[hana-flv-player
video="http://kathyhand.com/video/stemcell.flv"
player="2"
autoplay="false"
loop="false"
autorewind="true"
/]

Read the article here.

... we have deer and at least one fox. Folks who live (or winter) in Naples, Florida are entertained by the most interesting birds!

iTunes is currently playing: Little Birdie from the album Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown! by Joy Williams.

... have to know what they are voting for ...

iTunes is currently playing: Things We've Handed Down from the album The Rainy Season by Marc Cohn.

NBC was happy to take money from the makers of Doritos to show us an ad during the Super Bowl in which a man takes a bite out of a Dorito and a woman's clothes fly off of her body.



They also took money for a GoDaddy.com ad in which a woman with huge, fake breasts rips her sweater open to show us what she paid for.



But NBC apparently felt that the following ad was too offensive for television.

iTunes is currently playing: That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be from the album The Best Of Carly Simon by Carly Simon.

... but I still laughed my @** off when I saw this!

You gotta love Austin!

iTunes is currently playing: Shame from the album Bad Love by Randy Newman.

From Politico.com:

Now that he’s in office, Obama’s approval ratings are starting to normalize, as partisan back-and-forth picks up.

Just a week ago [prior to his inauguration], Gallup found an astonishing 83 percent approval of how he has handled his transition, showing he had even won over most Republicans.

The Gallup Poll on Saturday released the first job-approval rating for President Obama, based on interviews during his first three full days in office: 68 percent.

The new job-approval figure puts him at the upper end of opening poll numbers for presidents, but doesn’t set a record.

iTunes is currently playing: Somebody (Changed Your Mind) from the album All True Man by Alexander O'Neal.

... has outlived any usefulness it ever had ...

iTunes is currently playing: The Fences from the soundtrack album Alexei and the Spring by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

In fact, I'm thinking Dan and I should fly to Vegas and renew our vows ... at the In-n-Out Burger on Tropicana.

Couple weds in fast-food style ... in Taco Bell.
Customers continue to order tacos and burritos as vows are exchanged.

iTunes is currently playing: I Love To See You Smile from the album Guilty: 30 Years Of Randy Newman (Disc 4) by Randy Newman.