American Life in Poetry: Column 147

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Our earliest recollections are often imprinted in our memories
because the were associated with some kind of stress.  Here,
in an untitled poem, Nebraska State Poet, William Kloefkorn,
brings back a difficult moment from many years before, and makes a
late confession:

I stand alone at the foot
Of my father's grave,
Trembling to tell:
The door to the granary is open,
Sir,
And someone lost the bucket
To the well.

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. Poem copyright (c)
2004 by William Kloefkorn, whose most recent book of poetry
is "Still Life Moving", WSC Press, 2007, illustrated with
pastel paintings by Carlos Frey. Reprinted from "Alvin Turner
As Farmer," Logan House, 2004, by permission of the author
and publisher. Introduction copyright (c) 2007 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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