Sunday, August 20, 2006   8:28 PM

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

This marvelous poem by the California poet Marsha Truman Cooper perfectly captures the world of ironing, complete with its intimacy. At the end, doing a job to perfection, pressing the perfect edge, establishes a reassuring order to an otherwise mundane and slightly tawdry world.

Ironing After Midnight

Your mother called it
"doing the pressing,"
and you know now
how right she was.
There is something urgent here.
Not even the hiss
under each button
or the yellow business
ground in at the neck
can make one instant
of this work seem unimportant.
You've been taught
to turn the pocket corners
and pick out the dark lint
that collects there.
You're tempted to leave it,
but the old lessons
go deeper than habits.
Everyone else is asleep.
The odor of sweat rises
when you do
under the armpits,
the owner's particular smell
you can never quite wash out.
You'll stay up.
You'll have your way,
the final stroke
and sharpness
down the long sleeves,
a truly permanent edge.


Reprinted from "River Styx," No. 32, 1990, by permission of the author, whose most recent book is "Substantial Holdings," Pudding House Publications, 2002. Poem copyright (c) 1990 by Marsha Truman Cooper. 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;
• Ted Kooser and the American Life in Poetry column;
• American Life in Poetry #53: Peter Pereira;
• 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 #26: Claudia Emerson;
• 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 of Interest:

• Call for Submissions Page: A regularly updated listing of competitions and calls for submission of poetry, prose, freelance journalism, visual arts, academic/professional papers and more.

Labels: American Life in Poetry, Poetry

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