Ted Kooser, U. S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, features the best poetry to keep us updated on “American Life.”
The former poet laureate’s recent column features Massachusetts poet, Richard Hoffman’s “Summer Job.”
Kooser introduces the poem with the following comment: “Though at the time it may not occur to us to call it "mentoring," there's likely to be a good deal of that sort of thing going on, wanted or unwanted, whenever a young person works for someone older. Richard Hoffman of Massachusetts does a good job of portraying one of those teaching moments in this poem.”
A sampling from the poem:
"The trouble with intellectuals," Manny, my boss,
once told me, "is that they don't know nothing
till they can explain it to themselves. A guy like that,"
he said, "he gets to middle age--and by the way,
he gets there late . . .
To read the entire poem, please visit Column 162 at American Life in Poetry.
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