To celebrate National Poetry Month, several of us are sharing poetry with you on Thursdays in April. Today's poem is about something we can all use more of, wherever and whenever we can find it. It's about WONDER. This poem by Nancy Willard says to me that it can be found almost anywhere, including The Home Depot.
I praise the brightness of hammers pointing east
like the steel woodpeckers of the future,
and dozens of hinges opening brass wings,
and six new rakes shyly fanning their toes,
and bins of hooks glittering into bees,
and a rack of wrenches like the long bones of horses,
and mailboxes sowing rows of silver chapels,
and a company of plungers waiting for God
to claim their thin legs in their big shoes
and put them on and walk away laughing.
In a world not perfect but not bad either
let there be glue, glaze, gum, and grabs,
caulk also, and hooks, shackles, cables, and slips,
and signs so spare a child may read them,
Men, Women, In, Out, No Parking, Beware the Dog.
In the right hands, they can work wonders.
This poem is delightful, Bonny! I love how a poet can bring wonders to life... I will never wander the Home Depot aisles again without thinking about this poem!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Kat -- the true talent of a poet is the ability to find beauty and wonder in even the most mundane of places.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous poem! And what a perfect way to begin National Poetry Month, Bonny. I love how poets can show us the wonders of the world . . . by evoking the everydayness of the world. XO
ReplyDeleteWhat a great poem! I am forwarding to Leslie - my friend who is a poet and whose husband lives at Home Depot or Lowes! Perfect!!
ReplyDeleteI love the part about the world being not perfect but not bad either. Thank you for sharing this poem.
ReplyDeletewhat a creative poem!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of finding wonder at a hardware store. I read this to my husband because he likes the hardware stores and made several trips this week to fix a leaking toilet. The project was successful but requires a new tool.
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