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American Life in Poetry: Column 3
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE A poem need not go on at great length to accomplish the work of conveying something meaningful to its readers. In the following poem by the late Marnie Walsh, just a few words, written as if they'd been recorded in exactly the manner in which they'd been spoken, tell us not only about the missing woman in the red high heels, but a little something about the speaker as well. Bessie Dreaming Bear we all went to town one day
went to a store
bought you new shoes
red high heels
ain't seen you since.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Reprinted from A Taste of the Knife, Ahsahta Press, Boise, ID, 1976, by permission of Tom Trusky, literary executor of the Walsh estate.
Introduction copyright © 2009 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.
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