A Poem by Kay Ryan

I may have mentioned that several weeks ago I gave C an iPad for his birthday - which is tomorrow, but it's always nice to give and receive surprises early, don't you think?  Anyway, I digress: he loves to hear the New Yorker poems read aloud by the artist, and this week's is particularly interesting.....I think you'll agree.  

On the Nature of Understanding


Say you hoped to
tame something
wild and stayed
calm and inched up
day by day.  Or even
not tamed it but 
meet it halfway.
Things went along.
You made progress,
understanding
it would be a
lengthy process,
sensing changes
in your hair and
nails.  So it's
strange when it
attacks: you thought
you had a deal.


      -Kay Ryan




By the way, if you have a New Yorker subscription and an iPad, you too can listen to the poems read aloud by the artist.  It's very nice.