Poetry Friday--Daniel Halpern

I don't judge a book by its cover, but that doesn't mean that I don't pick out a book by its cover.

Selected Poems by Daniel Halpern [811 HAL] is one such book. I was captivated by the cover--a beige background upon which are birds' eggs in various sizes and varying shades of cream, tan, and palest blue, some spotted, some not. It is reminiscent of an old museum drawer since all the eggs are numbered in a old-fashioned script. I had to look inside!

There I found poems that would involve several rereadings to make sense of, but, there were also some that I found wonderfully clear on a first reading. "Pastimes," is one of latter. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

PASTIMES

"Why, you're a genius, " she said.

A natural enough comment I thought
As I glued a side to my plane
And started papering the fuselage.

I could see her on the couch,
Her hands clicking with needles and wool.

"Why, you're a genius," I said.

She nodded,
Thinking the remark natural enough
As she placed the last stitch in a sleeve.

It's not bad living with a genius
We both think
As we glue and stitch through life.

Today's Poetry Friday Round-Up is taking place at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup.