Monday, November 19, 2012

Monday Poems: "The Potato Eaters" -- by Leonard E. Nathan


Sometimes, the naked taste of potato
reminds me of being poor.

The first bites are gratitude,
the rest, contented boredom.

The little kitchen still flickers
like a candle-lit room in a folktale.

Never again was my father so angry,
my mother so still as she set the table,

or I so much at home.

*     *     *     *     *

Leonard E. Nathan (1924-2007) was a poet, critic and professor emeritus of rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley. His poetry collections include Returning Your Call (1975) which was nominated for a National Book Award; Carrying On: New and Selected Poems (1985), Diary of a Left-Handed Bird Watcher (1998); Tears of the Old Magician (2003), and Ragged Sonnets (2008).

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