Story
bricolage

In the American parlor, a momentary nostalgia
for old homes bright with detailed objects
and words adequate to represent the interior:
screen, chaise, keys in place, devotion,
a modest reserve, the meaning-giving law.
Now, with avalanches of information,
we must set forth for shelter, human shape,
safety, eye contact, purpose, pantries.
Hopelessly removed from the prime object,
we must interpret weak signals from
whatever nature throws our way, and less
than fully controlled, in a system embedded
in a system, discern the way of the world.

There’s an even more ancient story: of flecks
of clay in the estuaries of an evolving earth
where life as we know it today rose to more
hospitable planes, raining down from time
to time, causing delight in our ranks.
When we tell the stories, we are fighting
for our lives, and in the break and tide
of rhythm, the pulling for breath and cries
of words leaping to sensibility, may begin
to take on form — as when a city is founded
and a quarter, a portion, is allotted to promise.
What harm to thrill to sudden cloudbursts,
the utmost pressure for fresh meaning?

First published in an earlier version in Green (Graywolf Press,1989), revised 2024
This poem combines fragments from conversations, my notes, and the NYTBR.
Homage Travel Stories & Essays | Poems | Contents at-a-Glance

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following editors and publishers in whose publications many of the poems in Homage first appeared (some in earlier versions).

The Atlantic, Peter Davison, and David Barber, poetry editors
Agni, Askold Melnychuz, founder, editor
Carolina Quarterly
Graywolf Press, National Poetry Award manuscript selected by Jorie Graham
The Georgia Review, Stanley W. Lindberg, editor between1977-2000
The Hudson Review, Paula Deitz, editor-in-chief
Milkweed Editions, several volumes edited by Laure-Anne Bosselaar
The Nation, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director, publisher
New South Books, volume edited by Jennifer Horne
The New Yorker, poetry editor Alice Quinn
The New York Times, Op-Ed Page, assigning editor David Shipley
Partisan Review, Rosanna Warren, edition editor
Prairie Schooner
Southwest Review, Willard Spiegelman, editor emeritus
Verse, Bonnie Costello, edition editor
University Press of New England, Deborah DeNicola, volume editor

Reviews

Homage Travel Stories & Essays | Poems | Contents at-a-Glance