Dear “Unknown Friend,”
Several weeks ago, my wife and I attended a reading given by the US Poet Laureate,
W.S. Merwin, at NC State University. Mr. Merwin mentioned he was a
longtime friend and colleague of the director of the creative writing program
at NCSU, which might explain why we had the good fortune to hear him here,
when one considers how many invitations Mr. Merwin must have received during
his tenure as US Poet Laureate. This reading was to be his last as US Poet Laureate.
In recent years, I have enjoyed two collections of Mr. Merwin’s; Migration: New &
Selected Poems and The Shadow of Sirius. I was excited to find in my mailbox
yesterday his The Book of Fables.
The last lines from Eye of Shadow… The Shadow of Sirius.
I touch the day
I taste the light
I remember
Below: noticed from my deck this morning…
