Now and then is the problem…
You can’t go home with it
Philosophy is weak
When it comes to “here”
Where trees blossom
Sunlight, early
Between apple branches
**
Call me Ishmael
But not today
**
Unscrew the locks from your doors
So Old Walt can sneak in
And steal your perfume
**
As for me
**
Diderot’s kings
Strangled with entrails
Of priests—
So much fun
Being rational!
**
Nowadays the poets and priests
Aren’t having much joy
What with kicking the fire hydrants
**
Now and then
Now and then
How easy it is
To say it out loud
ABOUT: Stephen Kuusisto is the author of the memoirs Have Dog, Will Travel; Planet of the Blind (a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”); and Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening and of the poetry collections Only Bread, Only Light and Letters to Borges. A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and a Fulbright Scholar, he has taught at the University of Iowa, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Ohio State University. He currently teaches at Syracuse University where he holds a University Professorship in Disability Studies. He is a frequent speaker in the US and abroad. His website is StephenKuusisto.com.
Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet’s Journey is now available for pre-order:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound.org
(Photo picturing the cover of Stephen Kuusisto’s new memoir “Have Dog, Will Travel” along with his former guide dogs Nira (top) and Corky, bottom.) Bottom photo by Marion Ettlinger
Planet of the Blind 