Untitled Document
parishaikus set #1
eighty years ago
my parents met
here married
paris palimpsest
metro buskers a
thirteen piece
string orchestra
vivaldi’s seasons
louvre d’orsay
cluny
but the asterix theme park
is closed until march
eiffel
replicas
brass, nougat, sardine-tins, glass
–
even a dildo
© Jacqueline Jackson 2008
Texas poet R.S. Gwynn is a master of the light touch.
Here he picks up on Gerard Manley Hopkins’ sonnet “Pied
Beauty,” which many of you will remember from school, and offers us a
picnic instead of a sermon. I hope you enjoy the feast!
Fried Beauty
Glory be to God for breaded things —
Catfish, steak finger, pork chop, chicken thigh, Sliced green tomatoes, pots full to the brim With french fries, fritters, life-float onion rings, Hushpuppies, okra golden to the eye, That in all oils, corn or canola, swim
Toward mastication’s maw (O molared mouth!); Whatever browns, is dumped to drain
and dry On paper towels’ sleek translucent scrim, These greasy, battered bounties of the South: Eat them.
Poem copyright © 2005 by R. S. Gwynn, whose most
recent book of poetry is No Word of Farewell:
Poems 1970-2000 (Story Line Press, 2001). Poem
reprinted from Light: A Quarterly of Light
Verse (No. 50, Autumn, 2005. 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.
Ted Kooser served as the U.S. poet laureate 2004-2006.
For more information, go to www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2008.
