Poetry Month

Yes, April is National Poetry Month.  If you like, go to this link to have Knopf email you a poem each day for the month.  

In celebration, I'm including one that I have long enjoyed--Dippold the Optician, part of The Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters.  Published in 1915, now in the public domain.


Dippold the Optician

What do you see now?
Globes of red, yellow, purple.
Just a moment!  And now?
My father and mother and sisters.
Yes!  And now?
Knights at arms, beautiful women, kind faces.
Try this.
A field of grain--a city.
Very good!  And now?
A young woman with angels bending over her.
A heavier lens!  And now?
Many women with bright eyes and open lips.
Try this.
Just a goblet on a table.
Oh I see!  Try this lens!
Just an open space--I see nothing in particular.
Well, now!
Pine trees, a lake, a summer sky.
That's better.  And now?
A book.
Read a page for me.
I can't.  My eyes are carried beyond the page.
Try this lens.
Depths of air.
Excellent!  And now?
Light, just light, making everything below it a toy world.
Very well, we'll make the glasses accordingly.