Friday, September 07, 2007

Poetry Friday

I wrote a little bit about Ted Kooser -- here, here and here -- way back when I first started this blog ... no one was yet listening, and I hadn't yet blog-named my children, thus the reference to "Eldest."

This poem came to mind this morning, in considering what might have been, had I needed and wanted to drop everything to go and be with my sister.

And I know, as this poem sparsely but accurately tells us, that every moment -- no matter what the diagnosis -- is courtesy of grace.

At the Cancer Clinic

by Ted Kooser

She is being helped toward the open door
that leads to the examining rooms
by two young women I take to be her sisters.
Each bends to the weight of an arm
and steps with the straight, tough bearing
of courage. At what must seem to be
a great distance, a nurse holds the door,
smiling and calling encouragement.

(Read the rest of the poem by going here, and clicking on At the Cancer Clinic.)

The entire Poetry Friday Round-up can be found here at Semicolon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Ted Kooser's poems. I have 2 collections, and keep hoping to hear him read (live) someday.

Liz said...

My dd read your blog and immediately went to the site and read some
poems, next she went to Amazon and ordered a book of them. Then came downstairs and accused me (with a smile on her face) of instilling a book addiction in her. However, it wasn't me who lured her into reading Ted Kooser's poems... Thanks, Karen (with a smile on my face.