Friday Poems

I recently discovered how I could add links in this blog and to celebrate that, I am sharing you a link to one of my favorite poetry sites that was forwarded to me by an american friend years ago. I have since then subscribed to its weekly feed and to this day, I still look forward to the poems that Ted Kooser picks. His short introductions to the poems he had chosen are as valuable and inspiring to me as the poems themselves. Here is this week's choice.


American Life in Poetry: Column 148 (link to site here :)
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
I've written about the pleasures of poetry that offers us vivid scenes but which lets us draw our own conclusions about the implications of what we're being shown. The poet can steer us a little by the selection of details, but a lot of the effect of the poem is in what is not said, in what we deduce. Lee McCarthy is a California poet, and here is something seen from across the street, something quite ordinary yet packed with life.

Santa Paula
There's a woman kissing a cowboy
across the street. His eight-year-old son
watches from the bus stop bench.
She's really planting one on him,
his Stetson in danger.
It must have been some weekend.
Seeing no room in that embrace for himself,
the boy measures his future, legs
straight out in front of him.
Both hands hold onto a suitcase handle,
thin arms ready to prove themselves.

Here is a poem that I wrote last year when I was in Oregon and got to meet an old friend who just bought his dream car - a red Porsche! (My friend promptly corrects me that it is pronounced as "por-tia" and not "porsh".) Having come from a developing country and never having seen a Porsche in my entire life, it was an unforgettable moment. Mainly because it was great to see an old friend and also because I got to ride a shiny new porsche, with the nice Oregon air blowing in my face (no rain!) and me getting to wave my hands out in the air like famous people do when they pass by crowds in their fancy cars during parades. For a moment, I felt super special. :)

Have a great weekend!

The Porsche

by Emilie S. (June 19, 2007)

It glided smoothly towards me
Glistening under the weak sun;
Like a red cat it purred and laid waiting
Ready to pounce for some fun;

I feel its salient power
Pulsing through its neat beige arms;
I am filled with anticipation
To experience a marvel created by man;

I could have sworn I was flying
As I didn’t feel the ground
Hugging it so tightly
Gracefully yielding to its masters capable hands;

I will remember that day
The day I rode a Porsche;
Passing ever so swiftly
Through the unworthy road.