Poetics

You know the old story Ann Landers tells

About the housewife in her basement doing the wash?

She's wearing her nightie, and she thinks, "Well, hell,

I might's well put this in as well," and then

Being dripped on by a leaky pipe puts on

Her son's football helmet; whereupon

The meter reader happens to walk through

and "Lady," he gravely says, "I sure hope your team wins."

A story many times told in many ways,

The set of random accidents redeemed

By one more accident, as though chaos

Were the order that was before the creation came.

That is the way things happen in the world:

A joke, a disappointment satisfied,

As we walk through doing our daily round,

Reading the meter, making things add up.

Howard Nemerov was born on February 29th, 1920 in New York. He died of cancer at his home in University City, Missouri on July 5th 1991.