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The beautiful woman gone
leaving the shop to young men making
their way in the January world
with cell phones and computers
and me.
Outside, a sunny day.
too warm for the season.
A phone rings — a barista calls out
"Tall vanilla soy latte."
Strange talk to one who grew up
with a nickel cup of joe.
There are fewer and fewer
native speakers of one’s born language.
You learn to live with translations.
Copyright by Nils Peterson.
Used with the author's permission.
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Nils Peterson was selected as the first Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County. back in 2009. He is now Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University, where he taught in the English and Humanities departments. Nils has published three collections of poetry and several chapbooks, as well as a bit of science fiction and articles on subjects as varied as golf and Shakespeare. His memoir about his friendship and work with Robert Bly is The Dear Time of Our Talking (2020), and another memoir, Talk in the Reading Room (wordrunnerpress, 2014) can be read at http://www.echapbook.com/memoir/peterson/. Nils' latest book, My Dinner with Nils, is a compelling collection of poems, memoir bits, essays, and "memorable fancies," as he puts it.
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Carol Hauer:
..."translations" and "transitions." I will still request a "medium" instead of a "grande." Just stubborn, I guess.
Posted 01/14/2011 11:38 AM
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Buckner14:
Delightful! Congratulations on the movement of your second career. (I'm a professor emerita, too.)
Posted 01/14/2011 10:04 AM
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