Ted Kooser is our current U.S. Poet Laureate. He regularly introduces a poem of a contemporary American poet in a free subscription series called "American Life in Poetry." I am particularly grateful for his introduction today of a poem by a fellow Californian, David St. John, a poem called "From a Bridge."
"David St. John is a California poet whose meticulous care with every word has always impressed me. This poem is a fine example of how clarity can let us see all the way to the heart."
From a Bridge
I saw my mother standing there below me
On the narrow bank just looking out over the river
Looking at something just beyond the taut middle rope
Of the braided swirling currents
Then she looked up quite suddenly to the far bank
Where the densely twined limbs of the cypress
Twisted violently toward the storm-struck sky
There are some things we know before we know
Also some things we wish we would not ever know
Even if as children we already knew &so
Standing above her on that bridge that shuddered
Each time the river ripped at its wooden pilings
I knew I could never even fate willing ever
Get to her in time
"David St. John was born in Fresno, California. He received his bachelor’s degree at California State in Fresno and went to the University of Iowa for an M.F.A. His works of poetry include Hush (1976), Terraces of Rain (1991) and The Red Leaves of Night (1999). Most recently he wrote The Face: A Novella in Verse (2004). He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Great Lakes College Association New Writers Award, the James D. Phelan Award, the Academy Award in Literature, and various grants and fellowships. St. John has taught at Oberlin College, John Hopkins University, and currently teaches at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles."