A Really Good Poem

I have nothing to say.  For two days, I’ve been dealing with an uprising of my appliances and electronic equipment.  So far, I am winning, but I have been so distracted by it all, I’ve not had an original idea or a poem in my head. 

Every morning, I open my copy of Good Poems to a random page and read two poems.  This morning I found “When I Am Asked,” by Lisel Meuller.  It says a great deal about me, so I thought I would share it with you.

WHEN I AM ASKED

BY LISEL MUELLER

When I am asked

how I began writing poems,

I talk about the indifference of nature.

It was soon after my mother died,

a brilliant June day,

everything blooming.

I sat on a gray stone bench

in a lovingly planted garden,

but the day lilies were as deaf

as the ears of drunken sleepers

and the roses curved inward.

Nothing was black or broken

and not a leaf fell

and the sun blared endless commercials

for summer holidays.

I sat on a gray stone bench

ringed with the ingenue faces

of pink and white impatiens

and placed my grief

in the mouth of language,

the only thing that would grieve with me.

Lisel Mueller, “When I Am Asked” from Alive Together. Copyright © 1996 by Lisel Mueller. Reprinted with the permission of Louisiana State University Press.