It makes all my hearts and all their cockles warm and giggling to learn that Kay Ryan, a woman from California, who teaches remedial English in a regular ol' high school, has become our great nation's newest poet laureate. I love her work. I've written hommage poems in her style (see side bar). I have to go home and feed my family, but here's a great poem of hers. And a photo of my tortoise, Armor, to go with it.Turtle
Who would be a turtle who could help it?
Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
She can ill afford the chances she must take
In rowing toward the grasses that she eats.
Her track is graceless, like dragging
A packing-case places, and almost any slope
Defeats her modest hopes. Even being practical,
She’s often stuck up to the axle on her way
To something edible. With everything optimal,
She skirts the ditch which would convert
Her shell into a serving dish. She lives
Below luck-level, never imagining some lottery
Will change her load of pottery to wings.
Her only levity is patience,
The sport of truly chastened things.
From Flamingo Watching Copper Beach Press, 1994
From Flamingo Watching Copper Beach Press, 1994
2 comments:
Thanks for your comment.
My purpose for posting was (obviously) to get comments from people who are in some sense in touch with poetry. I am not a professional poet (if there is such a thing). I am pretty satisfied overall with the feedback I've been getting so far.
That's good enough for me! I'm glad you found me --
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