But When Does He Sleep?
This is nothing to brag about, but when I slog through the New York Times Book Review each Sunday…and Monday…and Tuesday, collecting titles to add to the never-ending list of books I won’t live long enough to read, I always skip reviews of poetry volumes. I know I’ll never want to read them. Why, then, do I get such pleasure from going to Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac in which he daily reprints one poem and word-paints brief portraits of artists born on that date? Isn’t it enough that Keillor entertains millions with his weekly radio show, his sweet and witty re-creations of life the way it's supposed to be lived and loved, and writes books and magazine columns? Where does he get the energy to do this NPR poetry almanac every day? And where does he find all these delightfully accessible poems? He featured one of my favorite writers, speakers, and inhabitants of the natural world, Diane Ackerman, and her poem School Prayer on October 7, 2006. In response to her poem, this picture of the red rock country near Sedona, Arizona is my reminder of what we have been given.