Poetics
You know the old story Ann Landers
About the housewife in her basement doing the wash?
She's wearing her nightie, and she thinks, "Well, hell,
I might's well put this in as well," and
Being dripped on by a leaky pipe puts
Her son's football helmet;
The meter reader happens to walk throughand "Lady," he gravely says, "I sure hope your team wins."A story many times told in many ways,
The set of random accidents redeemed By one more accident, as though
Were the order that was before the creation came.
That is the way things happen in the world:
A joke, a disappointment satisfied,
As we walk through doing our daily round,
Reading the meter, making things add up.
Howard Nemerov was born on February 29th, 1920 in New York.
He died of cancer at his home in University City,
Missouri on July 5th 1991.
Howard Nemerov
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