Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

One of my friends told me he’d seen a refrigerator magnet that read, PARENTING; THE FIRST 40 YEARS ARE THE HARDEST. Here’s a fine poem about parenthood, and about letting go of children, by Chana Bloch, who lives in Berkeley, California.

Through a Glass

On the crown of his head

where the fontanelle pulsed

between spongy bones,

a bald spot is forming, globed and sleek

as a monk’s tonsure.

I was the earliest pinch of civilization,

the one who laced him

into shoe leather

when he stumbled into walking upright.

“Shoes are unfair to children,” he’d grouse.

Through a pane of glass

that shivers when the wind kicks up

I watch my son walk away.

He’s out the door, up the street, around

a couple of corners by now.

I’m in for life.

He trips; my hand flies out;

I yank it back.

Ted Kooser was US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org),

publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of

Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Donal Heffernan, whose most recent book of poetry is

“Duets of Motion,” Lone Oak Press, 2001. Poem reprinted by permission of Donal Heffernan.

Introduction copyright ©2010 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

American Life in Poetry ©2006 The Poetry Foundation

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Arts Council has announced that, for the fourth year, it will participate in “Poetry Out Loud,” a national recitation contest which is sponsored by the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

This is an exciting program for students in grades nine through 12 who have an opportunity to memorize selected poetry and recite it in a pyramid-designed competition, which begins in the classroom, moves to the school and county level.

Next is the state completion at the Capitol in Sacramento. The state winner proceeds, with all expenses paid, to a national competition in Washington, D.C. Scholarship dollars and school awards are made at the state and national levels.

Poetry is meant to be recited for the cadence and the interpretation of the poem in voice and posture. This program gives back to young people, and to the listener, the value of language that is well written and well spoken.

There is also an impact on the student in memorizing great pieces of poetry and then presenting them to first a few peers and, with greater confidence and panache, to an ever-increasing audience.

You can view some of these fine students by visiting the California Arts Council’s Web site at www.cac.ca.gov.

The program gives confidence to shy and quiet students to step upon a stage and recite a piece of poetry with conviction in their interpretation of the content of the poem.

Michele Krueger once again will take the lead on bringing this program to the schools of Lake County.

Anyone who wishes to participate in the program – student, teacher or support person – should contact Krueger at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Lake County Arts Council extended its thanks to all the students who participated in last year’s Poetry Out Loud, and congratulated Mellany Watson for doing Lake County proud finals at the Capitol in Sacramento.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Members of Clear Lake Performing Arts, as well as their friends and family, are invited to attend the organization's annual meeting taking place on Sunday, Sept. 19, at the First Presbyterian Church in Kelseyville.

The business session, taking place at 3:30 p.m., will consist mainly of the introduction and confirmation of new officers and board members, and the presentation of a fund-raised check to the president from officers of the CLPA Auxiliary.

Entertainment will be provided by the Lake County Chamber Orchestra in a free concert starting at 4 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner – also free – prepared by volunteer CLPA executive chef Ed Bublitz, and served by members of the CLPA Auxiliary.

Music Director John Parkinson will conduct the orchestra in British baroque composer William Boyce's Symphony No. 5, with trumpet and drums added to back up the orchestra's strings. They will also play Boyce's sonatas No. 1 and 2.

A concertante group made up of violinists Andi Skelton and Eleanor Cook and cellist John Weeks playing solo parts, will perform the popular Concerto Grosso, No. 7 by Arcangelo Corelli backed by the string orchestra.

The concert will conclude with Georg Philipp Telemann's Konzert in E minor for two flutes, violin, strings and basso continuo, featuring Cathy Hall and Patricia Jekel on flutes, Andi Skelton, violin and Weeks again on cello.

The colorful Konocti Fiddle Club will entertain members during dinner with their special blend of down-home music.

RSVPs are necessary and may be directed to Bublitz at 707-277-8172, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or CLPA President Paul Brewer, 707-279-0877 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

It is hoped that those invited to the event may be prospective members of Clear Lake Performing Arts, Lake County's music support organization.

The Kelseyville Presbyterian Church is located at 5340 Third St. in downtown Kelseyville.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – On Saturday, Sept. 18, there will be two screenings of “Paperback Dreams” with filmmaker Alex Beckstead on hand for audience question and answer after each screening.

The afternoon matinée is at 1:30 p.m. and evening screening at 7:30 p.m. at Cartwright (Calpine) Geothermal Visitors Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown.

Admission is $10 at the door and $5 kids 16 and under.

“Paperback Dreams” is the story of two landmark independent bookstores and their struggle to survive.

The film follows Andy Ross, owner of Cody’s Books, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler’s Books, over the course of two tumultuous years in the book business.

If you're worried that a movie about bookstores could be boring, “Paperback Dreams” features multiple bombings, political intrigue, major political figures and at least one bona fide rock star.

Independent bookstores function as literary laboratories, and publishers rely on them to champion new and controversial work.

To passionate booksellers, selling books remains revolutionary. “Paperback Dreams” celebrates what these stores offer our local communities, and mourns the cultural loss that comes when a good bookstore closes its doors.

Producer and director Alex Beckstead is a San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker. “Paperback

Dreams” is his second ITVS-funded project as a director.

The first was “Trailer Park Blues,” an observational portrait of his grandparents, Bill and Peggy Heiner, is an honest but sensitive portrait of Bill’s lifelong struggle with alcoholism in a trailer park north of Phoenix, Ariz. It aired on public television stations in more than 30 markets.

He produced segments in Kenya and Uganda for the 2005 PBS special “Ending AIDS: The Search for a Vaccine.”

Other credits include associate producer of “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet,” a two-hour prime time PBS special that was both a biography of Islam’s founding prophet, and a profile of contemporary American Muslims.

He also served as associate producer and sound recordist for several companion documentaries for the DVD release of the HBO dramatic series “Deadwood.”

Beckstead’s first film, the short documentary “SXE,” screened at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

There is plenty of parking, large restrooms, refreshments for sale and a great time.

Coyote Film Festival is the fundraising arm of EcoArts of Lake County, a 501(c)(3) non profit arts

organization dedicated to providing visual art opportunities to the residents and visitors of Lake County.

Contact Karen Turcotte at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

In our busy times, the briefest pause to express a little interest in the natural world is praiseworthy.

Most of us spend our time thinking about other people, and scarcely any time thinking about other creatures.

I recently co-edited an anthology of poems about birds, and we looked through lots of books and magazines, but here is a fine poem we missed, by Tara Bray, who lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Once

I climbed the roll of hay to watch the heron

in the pond. He waded a few steps out,

then back, thrusting his beak under water,

pulling it up empty, but only once.

Later I walked the roads for miles, certain

he’d be there when I returned. How is it for him,

day after day, his brittle legs rising

from warm green scum, his graceful neck curled,

damp in the bright heat? It’s a dull world.

Every day, the same roads, the sky,

the dust, the barn caving into itself,

the tin roof twisted and scattered in the yard.

Again, the bank covered with oxeye daisy

that turns to spiderwort, to chicory,

and at last to goldenrod. Each year, the birds —

thick in the air and darting in wild numbers —

grow quiet, the grasses thin, the light leaves

earlier each day. The heron stood

stone-still on my spot when I returned.

And then, his wings burst open, lifting the steel-

blue rhythm of his body into flight.

I touched the warm hay. Hoping for a trace

of his wild smell, I cupped my hands over

my face: nothing but the heat of fields

and skin. It wasn’t long before the world

began to breathe the beat of ordinary hours,

stretching out again beneath the sky.

Ted Kooser was US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org),

publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of

Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Donal Heffernan, whose most recent book of poetry is

“Duets of Motion,” Lone Oak Press, 2001. Poem reprinted by permission of Donal Heffernan.

Introduction copyright ©2010 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

American Life in Poetry ©2006 The Poetry Foundation

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.