By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004-2006
Kristen Tracy is a poet from San Francisco who here captures a moment at a zoo. It's the falling rain, don't you think, that makes the experience of observing the animals seem so perfectly truthful and vivid?
Rain at the Zoo
A giraffe presented its head to me, tilting it
sideways, reaching out its long gray tongue.
I gave it my wheat cracker while small drops
of rain pounded us both. Lightning cracked open
the sky. Zebras zipped across the field.
It was springtime in Michigan. I watched
the giraffe shuffle itself backwards, toward
the herd, its bone- and rust-colored fur beading
with water. The entire mix of animals stood
away from the trees. A lone emu shook
its round body hard and squawked. It ran
along the fence line, jerking open its wings.
Perhaps it was trying to shake away the burden
of water or indulging an urge to fly. I can't know.
I have no idea what about their lives these animals
love or abhor. They are captured or born here for us,
and we come. It's true. This is my favorite field.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright © Kristen Tracy, whose most recent teen novel is Crimes of the Sarahs, Simon & Schuster, 2008. Poem reprinted from AGNI Online, 9/2007, by permission of Kristen Tracy. Introduction copyright © 2008 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
]]>And a knuckleballer no less.
His last name makes me wonder if I need a new category of baseball names. Besides names that are also the names of Massachusetts cities and towns and food names, should I add a category of chemical elements? A quick search of baseballreference.com suggests the pickings are a little slim...
]]>Today's notes has a terrific graphic detailing the "six degrees of separation" from Manny Ramirez to each of the sluggers ahead of him on the all-time home run list. Unfortunately, they only shoveled into a GIF format, not even bothering to add links. They could have created something that was fun and instructive. Still, the details are cool--who knew, for instance, that Dave Winfield and Willie McCovey were once teammates?
]]>Still, I will miss Manny. He is an amazing hitter. Remy has made the point about how Manny is "quiet" at the plate. He really does not have extraneous movements, and when he swings he is always prepared to put the best swing on the ball. I also came to like his fielding, though this is where a lot of people would disagree. But he fielded well in Fenway, even with some style.
And, of course, there was Manny being Manny. I think far more fans will miss that in Boston than won't. I'm sure Jason Bay is a fine young man, but he's no Manny.
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Moving day. And it's 79 degrees out and muggy.
So I haven't found a new office yet. I will be storing some stuff at home and using the Gilbane offices for a bit while I find the right place. As I've mentioned before, if you have a nice and reasonably priced office in the Boston/Brookline/Cambridge area, do let me know.
And happy birthday to my big brother. He's six years older, but somehow looks 10 years younger.
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So am I looking for a new office, and apparently this building has a good-sized office. It's a very good location. The building is modest, but there's something about this building I like. I can't quite put my finger on it though...
]]>I would be coming in from Melrose (Oak Grove), so another option might be Medford or Somerville, but again I would like it be on the T.
If you know of something, have something, or are looking to sublet from a bigger space you already have, please do get in touch.
]]>I've been to a lot of Red Sox games over the years, and I have enjoyed them all, and seen many great games and many great individual plays. I saw Mark McGwire hit three home runs in a game. I saw the great Sox-Yankees playoff game when Pedro beat Roger and we serenaded Roger off the field. I saw Bo Jackson hit maybe the hardest home run ever in Fenway Park. I've seen great pitching from the likes of Pedro, Roger, Bruce Hurst, Oil Can Boyd, Tom Seaver, Frank Viola. But I had never seen a no-hitter before Monday night, and it was something to see.
I noticed there were no hits after the fourth inning, but I didn't really start thinking about it until an inning or two later. I figured a hit would come. But then all of a sudden it was the eighth inning and people were really into it. Lester seemed to be both taking energy from the crowd but also not getting too swept away by it. When he walked someone to start the ninth, the crowd reacted more than Lester. He spent a minute behind the mound. Our seats are close enough that we could see he was trying to compose himself--a deep breath or two. But then he was back on the mound and finished strong, striking out a completely overmatched someone-or-other for the final out.
It was great. I was thrilled for my boys. They have missed coming to the games, and the one game we got to last year was a loss to the Yankees (boo!) and in really terrible, obstructed view seats. This game we were back in our old seats, the weather was great, and the game was one for the ages.
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Since I was eight years old, I have had my breakfast every morning during baseball season while reading the box scores. It's always more fun when the Red Sox win of course, but even when they lose, the box scores still never disappoint. Not familiar with a box score? Wikipedia can explain.
But even in baseball, all good things must come to an end. Julio Franco retired, and this article is a nice tribute to a fine career. I had watched Franco closely the past few years. After Rickey Henderson left the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004, Franco was the only active player in major league baseball who was older than me. Alas, now I am older than every single one of them. I guess I won't ever be center fielder for the Red Sox after all.
]]>Sunday I return early in the day and, weather providing, coach my younger son's U16 travel soccer team.
So I ask you, kind reader, which is harder--herding cats or getting 18 boys, 16 and under, to listen to you for more than 20 seconds? I know the answer! Especially during last night's practice when I was trying to go over something with them as they prepared to scrimmage the U18 girls' team. But they are great kids, really, and I fully expect their exuberance to be an asset on the field.
]]>BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Bad news all too often arrives with a ringing telephone, all too early in the morning. But sometimes it comes with less emphasis, by regular mail. Here Allan Peterson of Florida gets at the feelings of receiving bad news by letter, not by directly stating how he feels but by suddenly noticing the world that surrounds the moment when that news arrives.
The Inevitable
To have that letter arrive
was like the mist that took a meadow
and revealed hundreds
of small webs once invisible
The inevitable often
stands by plainly but unnoticed
till it hands you a letter
that says death and you notice
the weed field had been
readying its many damp handkerchiefs
all along
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2007 by Allan Peterson, whose most recent book of poetry is All the Lavish in Common, University of Massachusetts Press, 2005, winner of the Juniper Prize. Reprinted from The Chattahoochee Review, Winter 2007, V. 27, no. 2, by permission of the author. Introduction copyright (c) 2008 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Bill Buckner is throwing out the first ball. I guess enough time has passed since you-know-when.
UPDATE: The Globe's Amalie Benjamin has a nice article about the emotions of the day.
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