Ted Kooser’s column remains somewhat cagey this week. He makes us wonder what he might have guessed about the feature poem.
Kooser most recent column features Steve Orlen’s “Three Teenage Girls: 1956.” Orlen is a poet from Arizona.
About the poem, former poet laureate Kooser comments: “I've mentioned how important close observation is in composing a vivid poem. In this scene by Arizona poet, Steve Orlen, the details not only help us to see the girls clearly, but the last detail is loaded with suggestion. The poem closes with the car door shutting, and we readers are shut out of what will happen, though we can guess.”
I wish Kooser had told us his guesses. To sample the poem, please consider the following lines:
Three teenage girls in tight red sleeveless blouses and black Capri pants
And colorful headscarves secured in a knot to their chins
Are walking down the hill, chatting, laughing,
Cupping their cigarettes against the light rain
The first thing I wonder about: why are three teenage girls dressed exactly alike? It strains the credibility of the poet’s observation, unless later in the poem we learn why.
To read the entire poem, please go to American Life in Poetry: Column 160.
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