Donald Hall, poet laureate of the U.S. 2006

During 2000, I carried a small 3/5 notebook in my purse, making notes on everything from recipes, to grocery lists (ground chuck was $.99--really?), to things to take to Illinois when I visited my Dad, book reviews, and an item about an 1820 brick house for sale with 8 fireplaces and 41 acres for $263,000 (it was either near Pitsburg, OH, or New Pittsburgh, OH or Pittsburgh, PA--can't tell).

And flipping through the notebook I see I recorded a poem that really resonated with me, published in the Atlantic, April 2000, by Donald Hall. This was 5 years before he was selected as Poet Laureate for 2006--I could spot a winner.

"You think that their
dying is the worst
thing that could happen.

Then they stay dead."

His wife, Jane Kenyon, also a poet, had died of leukemia, and this was within a series called Distressed Haiku.

To hear Hall read his own works.