I’m sure many of you listen to Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac program on NPR, but you might not know that you can also subscribe, online, for free and receive daily emails with poems and information about writers. Today was a very nice poem, check it out!
I had a conversation with Garrison Keillor once. If Denis was here, he would debate this, because he was with me and insists that it wasn’t Garrison Keillor, but a bum, that I was conversing with.
We lived in the city then and had two mongrels named Rocky and Pongo. They were both black, scruffy terrier mixes and they looked like they were the same breed, though they were totally unrelated to each other. Anyway, because they were so cute, and looked so much alike, people were always stopping me on the street and asking what breed they were. I decided to make up a breed for them, because I got tired of having to say, “they’re mutts.”
So I started telling people that they were Galway Terriers. There’s actually no such breed, but the funny thing is that many people said things like, “Oh, my aunt had a Galway Terrier,” or “I have always loved Galway Terriers!” I mean, everybody thought they had known other Galway Terriers.
So, one night, Denis and I were walking our Galway Terriers ( I liked to say our brace of Galway Terriers) across Broadway near 89th Street where we lived. There is a divider between the north and southbound avenues of Broadway and at each block there is a bench where you can sit. Often, at night, it’s homeless people sitting there, but lots of regular people sit there too. So, as I was saying, we were walking across Broadway with our Galways, and as we waited for the light, a man said, “Nice dogs!” He was sitting on the bench eating soup from a takeout container. I thought his voice sounded familiar and when I turned I saw that it was Garrison Keillor!
“Thanks!” I said, and I wondered if I should tell him what a fan I was. I just wasn’t 100% sure it was him. I was 99% sure.
He asked what kind, I said, “Galway Terriers,” and he said, “one of my favorite breeds!” Garrison Keillor fell for the old Galway Terrier hoax!
When we crossed the street, I said to Denis, “That was Garrison Keillor!” Denis looked back and said, “That was a bum.”
I said, he looks a little like a bum because of that hat he’s wearing but it was Garrison Keillor! You could tell from his voice!
Well, we argued this back and forth and Denis still claims that we’ve never met Garrison Keillor. I have been wrong before ….a few times. I’m constantly elbowing Denis at red-carpet type parties and saying, “look…Madonna!” only to have him make me see that it wasn’t Madonna at all, in fact it was one of the wait staff. Or, conversely I will often not realize that I am talking to a very famous person and will make an ass of myself by asking what they do for a living. Then there was the time I tried to help Moby with his music career, but you’ve all heard that story.
But it was Garrison Keillor that night on Broadway. I won’t be convinced otherwise.
Garrison Keillor has a collection of the poems from The Writer’s Almanac called Good Poems for Hard Times. It should be an excellent seller this year with these hard times.
Anyway, there’s a poem in it that I love. If you are of a certain age and have been with somebody for a long time, I suspect you might like it too.
THERE COMES THE STRANGEST MOMENT
by Kate Light
There comes the strangest moment in your life
when everything you thought before breaks free -
what you relied upon as ground-rule and as rite
looks upside-down from how it used to be.
Skin’s gone pale, your brain is shedding cells;
you question every tenet you set down;
Obedient thoughts have turned to infidels,
and every verb desires to be a noun.
I want-my want. I love-my love. I’ll stay
with you. I thought transitions were the best,
but I want what’s here to never go away.
I’ll make my peace, my bed, and kiss this breast…
Your heart’s in retrograde. You simply have no choice.
Things people told you turn out to be true.
You have to hold that body, hear that voice.
You’d have sworn no one knew you more than you.
How many people thought you’d never change?
But here you have. It’s beautiful. It’s strange.
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Dear Ann,
If you’ve ever heard Garrison you KNOW when you’ve heard his voice, it is absolutely unmistakable. And, as his NYC home is on the Upper West Side, it is certainly not outside the realm of possibility that you are correct! I have met him several times in the course of my career in the service industry in St. Paul/Minneapolis, and (in the nicest possible way) he often looks like a writer/radio personality. I would say disheveled or rumpled, but not “like a bum.” I say it was him! Stay strong!
I have to agree with Sandy, I always have found poetry intimidating for some reason. As if it meant more then it was suppose to and i just didnt get it. Or does it mean exactly what it says and I am still clueless. Its wonderful you are sharing and explaining it a bit.
Thanks for introducing me to poetry, I have been an avid reader all my life but thought poetry was over my head. I don’t know why, maybe I have a different perspective now, at 47. I just love your blog, you are very funny. I just listened to Denis reading from his book on oprah.com I am sitting here by myself lol. It sounds just like my husband on a Saturday night after a few beer.
Ann:
While reading Denis’s book, I learned he has a sister named Betsy. Although my birth name is Elizabeth, most people call me Betsy. It was interesting to read that Denis has a sister with this name because I seldom hear it. Is Betsy a nickname or her legal name? Is it Irish? I never thought it had an Irish background, but knowing what a proud Irish family Denis belongs to, it must be. Just an idle thought I forgot to mention in my previous message.
Wow, Elizabeth, thanks so much. I am so thankful to all my faithful blog readers. In fact, you’ve given me something to blog about Thanksgiving day!
Great poem, Ann. It accurately reflects many of the thoughts running through my brain right now. Many ideas and beliefs I trusted for most of my adult life have begun to look odd and somewhat unstable to me, and I wonder if they fit with the future I wish for myself. Anyway, thanks for posting this poem.
Also, before I get even deeper into the flurry of activity which is Thanksgiving, I wanted to take a minute to let you know that finding your website and getting to know you better is something for which I am thankful. Because I am a devoted fan of Denis’s, I have always known how vital you are to him and that he loves you very much. After reading your books, listening to your radio show, and enjoying your blog every day, his devotion to and admiration for you are completely understandable. Yesterday I was reading his new book and came to Chapter Four, wherein he writes about how his mom thought he was drugging or blackmailing you because she couldn’t believe he could have won the heart of such a wonderful woman. What a lovely–and very funny–paragraph.
Thanks for your books, your radio show, and your website, Ann. I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving.
I’ve never read any of Kate Light’s poems before. Beautiful.
I think I am going to try that trick when people ask what kind of dog Shanti is. “He’s a Galway Terrier” LOL! That is so funny!
I can relate to your meeting Garrison Keillor. A few years ago, I was at the House of Blues one night with friends and I swear to god, Edge from U2 was standing behind us. One of my friends, said to him, “You’re Edge from U2!” and he said, “Nah…I’m Danny.” My friend said, “Court, it’s not Edge! He just looks ALOT like him. His name is Danny,” I kept telling her that of course he wouldn’t admit to being “Edge”, he didn’t want to be bothered. Until this day we laugh about this, but I know Edge was standing right behind me at the House of Blues that night.
“Your heart’s in retrograde.”
Very nice.
Thanks Marcia, here’s “And Then There Is…”
And Then There Is That Incredible Moment,
when you realize what you’re reading,
what’s being revealed to you, how it is not
what you expected, what you thought
you were reading, where you thought you were heading.
Then there is that incredible knowing
that surges up in you, speeding
your heart; and you swear you will keep on reading,
keep on writing until you find another not going
where you thought—and until you have taken
someone on that ride, so that they take in
their breath, so that they let out their
sigh, so that they will swear
they will not rest until they too
have taken someone the way they were taken by you.
for Agha Shahid Ali
Kate Light
How awesome that you chose Kate Light today! I discovered her through my sister & the poem-of-the-day program they do @ her school. She sent me “And Then There Is That Incredible Moment”…she keeps it posted in her classroom for inspiration.
How have I never heard of this poet? Her work is beautiful . . .such insight. Thanks!