American Life in Poetry #53: Peter Pereira.

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Writing poetry, reading poetry, we are invited to join with others in celebrating life, even the ordinary, daily pleasures. Here the Seattle poet and physician, Peter Pereira, offer us a simple meal.



A Pot of Red Lentils

simmers on the kitchen stove.
All afternoon dense kernels
surrender to the fertile
juices, their tender bellies
swelling with delight.

In the yard we plant
rhubarb, cauliflower, and artichokes,
cupping wet earth over tubers,
our labor the germ
of later sustenance and renewal.

Across the field the sound of a baby crying
as we carry in the last carrots,
whorls of butter lettuce,
a basket of red potatoes.

I want to remember us this way--
late September sun streaming through
the window, bread loaves and golden
bunches of grapes on the table,
spoonfuls of hot soup rising
to our lips, filling us
with what endures.



Reprinted from "Saying the World," 2003, by permission of Copper Canyon Press. Copyright (c) 2003 by Peter Pereira. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.





Also at Virtual Grub Street by/about Ted Kooser:

• The Ted Kooser Page: Links to online Interviews, Recordings, Poetry, Prose, Reviews, Photos and more;
• American Life in Poetry #132: Peter Pereira;
• American Life in Poetry #50: Grace Bauer;
• American Life in Poetry #49: Rodney Torreson;
• American Life in Poetry #48: Walt McDonald;
• American Life in Poetry #30: Naomi Shihab Nye;
• American Life in Poetry #17: Wendell Berry;
• American Life in Poetry #11: David Wagoner;
• American Life in Poetry #4: Ruth Stone;
• More from American Life in Poetry >>>

Also at Virtual Grub Street from The Poetry Foundation:

• Poetry Foundation Syndicate Column Index.