My week as guest author has come to a close, and it seems quite fitting to take my leave after leaving you with David Lehman's poem "Radio" to read and listen to. For such a short poem it accomplishes quite a lot. Its brief lines read with ease and clarity and as an invitation of sorts—and somehow you end up right alongside the author as he enters a space filled with music and memory and perhaps a hint of something beyond the reach of language.
When I asked David about the poem and how it came to be he said:
I wrote it on a day in late May 2002 upon returning home from an outing to a book sale. I had left the radio on and the notes floated out of the darkness of the bedroom as I entered it. Key to the poem: title of the song: "After You've Gone." Great song from the 1920s. . . And the self-imposed limitation of three words per line.
Radio
I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark
from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman
And to listen to:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/poetry/weekly-poem-david-lehman-reads-radio/