Driving through the long hills and small towns of Iowa yesterday, I listened to a cd of poets reading their work. I was especially taken by some of David Ignatow’s words. He was recommended to me while I was still in high school, but I had forgotten him.
For My Daughter in Reply to a Question
We’re not going to die.
we’ll find a way.
We’ll breathe deeply
and eat carefully.
We’ll think always on life.
There’ll be no fading for you or for me.
We’ll be the first
and we’ll not laugh at ourselves ever
and your children will be my grandchildren.
Nothing will have changed
except by addition.
There’ll never be another as you
and never another as I.
No one ever will confuse you
nor confuse me with another.
We will not be forgotten and passed over
and buried under the births and deaths to come.
Like Dylan Thomas below, he makes his point by saying the opposite of what he really means.
nice poem, J
Comment by Sean Meade — September 29, 2008 @ 9:25 pm