Poetry potpourri

Anyone else hear this story on NPR this morning? It discusses the state of poets and poetry in a suffering economy, and includes a link to its Planet Money blog, where readers have contributed original recession haiku. It’s worth a visit!

In addition, I discovered through Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky that Mr. Berry has a new short story here, at Threepenny Review. I read it earlier this week and it’s a delight — I found myself laughing out loud in spots. It recounts an episode in the life of young Andy Catlett, a familiar character for any who’ve read any of Berry’s Port William fiction, in which he gains a new glimpse of his mother. I won’t give away any more than that… but in honor of the story, I’m including a link to this Berry poem, “To My Mother,” which begins this way:

I was your rebellious son,
do you remember? Sometimes
I wonder if you do remember,
so complete has your forgiveness been.

So complete has your forgiveness been
I wonder sometimes if it did not
precede my wrong, and I erred,
safe found, within your love,

prepared ahead of me, the way home,
or my bed at night, so that almost
I should forgive you, who perhaps
foresaw the worst that I might do,

and forgave before I could act,
causing me to smile now, looking back…