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or the title of the poem,
but I remember I liked his work
and I’d like to add his book
to the wishlist
my children have asked me to
update.
So I search.
I remember he taught
or at least west of New York,
but "Midwest poet"
turns up
Kooser and some others who
are not him;
"Current American Poet"
yields a long Wikipedia entry
of letters.
I think his name begins with G
or B,
but none of the names ring a
bell.
So I start my own first letter
game,
like a hymnal of first lines
that I do not remember,
but hope one will call up the
first
the priest behind the screen,
the patron saint,
a fisherman with his net
Magi intent on a star—
I know he is there;
I can feel him next to the
brain
next to "American Poet"
who I
read recently,
or at least in the last few
years.
Wasn't his poem
in one of the daily almanacs
that arrives faithfully each
day?
So I try "poet George"
because now I’m convinced
the G is a George.
I begin flipping through the
screens of daily
Vignettes,
hundreds of them in a reverse
history
And that is what I want to do,
to go back
and say "A Ha,"
I remember you;
you were here all along.
17 Dec 15
Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année
Poem © Copyright 2015, E. G. Happ, All Rights Reserved.
Photos © Copyright 2015, Shirley Chen, All Rights Reserved
Photos © Copyright 2015, Shirley Chen, All Rights Reserved