Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Free Poetry

Dear Readers,
I know lots of you are poets and love reading poetry. So, when I heard that America's Poet Laureate was giving FREE publication rights to his poetry column which will feature new poems from many different poets everyday, I had to share. The website is AmericanLifeinPoetry.org and here's the poem for today which kind of imagines the secret life of coins! You know, like that dime in your pocket? Where was it before you and where will it be in a year?
Some people's creativity just knocks me out!


American Life in Poetry: Column 057

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Midwestern poet Richard Newman traces the imaginary life of coins as a connection between people. The coins—seemingly of little value—become a ceremonial and communal currency.


Coins

My change: a nickel caked with finger grime;
two nicked quarters not long for this life, worth
more for keeping dead eyes shut than bus fare;
a dime, shining in sunshine like a new dime;
grubby pennies, one stamped the year of my birth,
no brighter than I from 40 years of wear.

What purses, piggy banks, and window sills
have these coins known, their presidential heads
pinched into what beggar's chalky palm—
they circulate like tarnished red blood cells,
all of us exchanging the merest film
of our lives, and the lives of those long dead.

And now my turn in the convenience store,
I hand over my fist of change, still warm,
to the bored, lip-pierced check-out girl, once more
to be spun down cigarette machines, hurled
in fountains, flipped for luck
these dirty charms
chiming in the dark pockets of the world.

Permalink to this blog post

Posted by Terri Farley @ 9:40 AM

---

Comments: Post a Comment