Charles Simic

It's been raining all day. A very gray Monday indeed.

That didn't stop me from attending the poetry reading however. I had planned it for a week, especially since it was Charles Simic, the new [15th] US' Poet Laureate, who was doing the reading. They changed the venue from Bryant's Park Reading Room to BarnesandNobles on Fifth Avenue, due to the wet weather.


And I am glad that I went. The reading was lovely.

A sample of his works:

The Something

by Charles Simic

Here come my night thoughts
On crutches,
Returning from studying the heavens.
What they thought about
Stayed the same,
Stayed immense and incomprehensible.

My mother and father smile at each other
Knowingly above the mantel.
The cat sleeps on, the dog
Growls in his sleep.
The stove is cold and so is the bed.

Now there are only these crutches
To contend with.
Go ahead and laugh, while I raise one
With difficulty,
Swaying on the front porch,
While pointing at something
In the gray distance.

You see nothing, eh?
Neither do I, Mr. Milkman.
I better hit you once or twice over the head
With this fine old prop,
So you don't go off muttering

I saw something!